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Start Date
25-6-2022 12:00 AM
End Date
25-6-2022 12:00 AM
Abstract
‘Megxit’ and that Oprah interview: Meghan Markle, (post)colonialism and ‘misogynoir’
After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in 2018 was hailed as symbolising Britain as a ‘post-racial’ society, the couple’s subsequent departure from the British royal family in 2020, and their interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, revealed that Markle had been subject to racist and sexist abuse in media culture, and from within the monarchy itself.
Markle appeared as a royal figure at a particularly pertinent time in British history during the Brexit referendum and fallout, and responses to her are entangled in wider sociopolitical debates about race, nation, imperialism and nostalgia. Markle quickly became associated with ‘identity politics’ in the British right-wing press, where she was used as the prototypical ‘leftist’, open to attack – by virtue of her visibility – by racist, xenophobic, and anti-gender ideologists. The portmanteau #Megxit was being used by far-right social media users to forge connections between Markle and populist politics long before the couple’s announcement to leave the monarchy. The language of ‘Megxit’, therefore, is indissoluble from racism, xenophobia and misogyny, or what Moya Bailey and Trudy have called ‘misogynoir’ (2018). Likewise, the British monarchy is inseparable from histories of patriarchy, colonialism, white supremacy, and capitalism. This paper will reflect on Markle’s time in the monarchy, and her subsequent position as a ‘post-royal’, to consider issues of racism, sexism and (post)colonialism in the British monarchy.
‘Megxit’ and that Oprah interview: Meghan Markle, (post)colonialism and ‘misogynoir’
‘Megxit’ and that Oprah interview: Meghan Markle, (post)colonialism and ‘misogynoir’
After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in 2018 was hailed as symbolising Britain as a ‘post-racial’ society, the couple’s subsequent departure from the British royal family in 2020, and their interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, revealed that Markle had been subject to racist and sexist abuse in media culture, and from within the monarchy itself.
Markle appeared as a royal figure at a particularly pertinent time in British history during the Brexit referendum and fallout, and responses to her are entangled in wider sociopolitical debates about race, nation, imperialism and nostalgia. Markle quickly became associated with ‘identity politics’ in the British right-wing press, where she was used as the prototypical ‘leftist’, open to attack – by virtue of her visibility – by racist, xenophobic, and anti-gender ideologists. The portmanteau #Megxit was being used by far-right social media users to forge connections between Markle and populist politics long before the couple’s announcement to leave the monarchy. The language of ‘Megxit’, therefore, is indissoluble from racism, xenophobia and misogyny, or what Moya Bailey and Trudy have called ‘misogynoir’ (2018). Likewise, the British monarchy is inseparable from histories of patriarchy, colonialism, white supremacy, and capitalism. This paper will reflect on Markle’s time in the monarchy, and her subsequent position as a ‘post-royal’, to consider issues of racism, sexism and (post)colonialism in the British monarchy.
Bio
Dr Laura Clancy is a Lecturer in Media at Lancaster University, UK. Her book, Running the Family Firm: how the monarchy manages its image and our money (Manchester University Press, 2021) argues that we cannot talk about inequalities today without talking about the British monarchy.