Almost a year ago exactly, the Susan Hussey debacle unfolded in real time. Queen Camilla hosted her first big palace event as consort, and the event was also an unveiling of her new “Queen’s companions,” aka ladies-in-waiting. One of the companions was Baroness Susan Hussey. Hussey used her authority and privilege to berate Ngozi Fulani, the CEO of Sistah Space. Fulani then had the “temerity” to speak out about Hussey’s racist treatment online and in several interviews. Omid Scobie included the whole drama in Endgame. Some highlights:
The palace’s claim that they apologized to Fulani immediately: Despite the statement’s claim to the contrary, Fulani didn’t receive any official correspondence until almost a week later. The Palace also failed to explain why Lady Susan was put in such a role in the first place. An octogenarian and trusted advisor to the Queen, Hussey might have had respect from the family members, but it was unwise to put her in a public-facing position at an event with such a diverse crowd at a time when they needed to show some proof of modernization. Like so many at Buckingham Palace, she is from another era, and the mealymouthed excuses that rationalize this kind of behavior—well-meaning folks from that generation don’t know any better, for example—do not cut it.
The Queen’s companions: Repurposing six of the late Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, a feature of court life dating back to the Middle Ages, instead of allowing the women (all born in the 1930s and ’40s) to gracefully retire set the Firm up for disaster. Ironically, just days earlier, the Palace had made a show of Camilla’s “modern” decision to not hire her own ladies-in-waiting, instead bringing on informal “Queen’s companions.”… And it was more evidence that, although Charles may have a vision for modernity, the reality is the institution is still entrenched in the past, often knowingly dragging arcane, extraneous traditions along with it.
William’s swift denouncement of his godmother: Despite the fact that Hussey is his godmother, Prince William was fast to denounce and remove himself from the ugly ordeal. Behind the scenes, William was “furious” and told his team that he needed to distance himself quickly. “There was just this feeling that it could have been easily avoided,” said a source in his circle. “[William] asked, ‘Why was she there in the first place?!’”
Charles was mad about William’s response: His father, said sources, didn’t share the same approach. “It was a rash . . . knee-jerk response,” a Buckingham Palace source remarked. “The feeling was they wanted to disassociate, instead of thinking as a team.”
[From Omid Scobie’s Endgame]
Like, in a narrow way, I’ll defend William in this situation – his immediate statement, just hours after the Hussey story broke, was actually what Buckingham Palace should have done. While BP was publicly lying (about apologizing to Fulani), William at least understood that Hussey’s behavior needed to be immediately condemned. The palace not only dithered in real time, they lied and refused to manage or problem-solve the disaster for two weeks. And after the palace basically blackmailed Fulani into doing a photo-op with Hussey, Hussey was then immediately allowed to return to the royal fold, all while Fulani had to step down from Sistah Space because she was still being racially abused.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, screencaps from Sky News, Fulani’s social media.
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