On Monday, the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust released footage from a video call featuring its president, Prince Harry, vice president, Meghan Markle, and a variety of young leaders who have participated in its programs. The topic was fairness and justice, touching on the history of the Commonwealth of Nations—a voluntary association of 54 largely English-speaking countries around the world, many of which are former British colonies who still consider Queen Elizabeth to be their head of state.
After one call participant mentioned the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, Harry responded with an answer that would go on to make global headlines. “There’s no way we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past, and I think so many people have done such an amazing incredible job of acknowledging the past and trying to right those wrongs,” he said. “But I think we all acknowledge there is so much more still to do.”
From a historian’s perspective, it’s pretty standard stuff, but it set off a sizable backlash in the British press. “Harry’s criticism of the Commonwealth has gone down like a lead balloon,” the Daily Express’s royal correspondent Richard Palmer tweeted, citing a list of newspapers and writers who devoted serious column inches to the subject, mainly casting it in a negative light. Some of the criticism said that it was too political or insulting to the queen, while the Daily Mail got a body-language expert to say Harry looked like a hostage.
From the perspective of the people it was meant to reach, it went over pretty well. In an essay for Zora, call participant Alicia Wallace wrote about how she initially felt conflicted about the invitation. “I decided to be there, knowing that there would likely be criticism of a pro-Black, anti-capitalism advocate who is calling for wealth distribution to dare to sit with people whose titles are symbols of a legacy from which we need to be freed,” she wrote, adding that she did appreciate Harry and Meghan’s admission that privileged people need to turn their words into action.
In a Thursday interview with The Telegraph, Lord Howell, president of the Royal Commonwealth Society, said that he thought the queen would not be insulted by Harry’s words. “I would think she fully understood the context, and he has been active and committed to the Commonwealth,” he said. “He’s a real champion of the Commonwealth, and he was trying to explain to younger members—outside of government, this was informal—where we’re going.” He went on to add that Harry’s talk of balance and confronting the past actually reflects the internal conversation among Commonwealth member states and representatives.