The personal representative of the Queen in Nottinghamshire, Musharaff Hussain, has said that the Royal Family is not racist after accusations emerged from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s recent interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Writing in the New York Post, Hussain said that in the 10 years he has represented the Royal Family, they have been nothing but respectful of his background and the notion that they are racist is simply out of touch with reality.
During the interview with Winfrey Harry and Meghan alleged that the duchess was the victim of racism during her time as a working member of the Royal Family. Meghan, who is biracial, also said Harry told her that a member of the Royal Family had expressed “concerns” about the colour of her baby’s skin before the birth of their son.
But Hussain wrote: “On many occasions, I, and other members of minority communities, have spent extended periods of time with the royals. If racism was in their DNA, I would have certainly smelt it.
“The narrative being eagerly lapped up in parts of the US is that, as the heads of the ex-British empire, the royal family must be the last remaining representatives of colonialism and the ideology that underpins it.
“But the royal family is committed to equality through one of the most equal and multicultural institutions in the world: the Commonwealth.
“The experience of racism is not the same as racism. There are, for example, lots of innocent reasons to ask about a baby’s skin tone, eye color, or hair color (I’m sure someone will have asked if the baby was likely to be ginger; evidently Oprah Winfrey did not see this as newsworthy).
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“My faith requires me to have husn al-dhan — to give others the benefit of the doubt. It also instructs me to preserve familial relations, and respect others’ privacy. That’s why the interview was painful — and disappointing — viewing for me.”
Musharraf Hussain is Her Majesty the Queen’s deputy lord lieutenant in Nottinghamshire, as well as being the translator of “The Majestic Quran” – a plain English translation of the Quran. He is also an interfaith activist, an imam in Nottingham and a presenter on British Muslim TV.
