At the Queen Consort’s reception, a famous black advocate for victims of domestic abuse described how she was constantly questioned by a member of the Buckingham Palace household about her “true origins.”
Ngozi Fulani, the CEO of Sistah Space, called the conversation a “violation” and said she will “never forget” her experience at Camilla’s significant speech on violence against women on Tuesday.
When Ms. Fulani replied her organization was situated in Hackney, a family member reportedly disputed her, asking: “No, what region of Africa are YOU from?”
She described the complete alleged chat on Twitter, which she claimed occurred 10 minutes after her arrival and included the following question: “Where are you from?
“Me: ‘Here, UK’. ‘No, but what nationality are you?’ Me: ‘I am born here and am British.’ ‘No, but where do you really come from, where do your people come from?’ Me: ”My people’, lady, what is this?’
“Oh, I can see I am going to have a challenge getting you to say where you’re from.”
Ms Fulani, who founded Sistah Space in 2015 to provide specialist support for African and Caribbean heritage women affected by abuse, wrote: “Mixed feelings about yesterday’s visit to Buckingham Palace.
“10 mins after arriving, a member of staff … approached me, moved my hair to see my name badge. The conversation below took place. The rest of the event is a blur.”
She thanked Mandu Reid, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, and Safe Lives chief executive Suzanne Jacob for their support on the day.
Ms. Reid, who in British history became the first person of color to head a major political party, tweeted that she had also heard the conversation.
I have so much to say about this. Ultimately, this is violence. @Sistah_Space I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m also sadly, unsurprised. To accept wilful erasure & be “dignified” in the face of continued violence is how we are expected to be.
‘The Master’s house” indeed’ https://t.co/zsjPCGmZnX
— Dr Iwi Ugiagbe-Green (@dr_iwi) November 30, 2022
“I was right there. I witnessed this first hand,” she said.
“We were at an event that was supposed to celebrate our work.
“For people like … people like us will never really belong here.”
Responding to messages of support, Ms Fulani wrote: “Standing there in a room packed with people while this violation was taking place was so strange, especially as the event was about violence against women.
“That feeling of not knowing what to do, will NEVER leave me. Almost alone in a room full of advocates.”
She said it was a “struggle to stay in a space where you were violated”.
She expressed her disappointment at being unable to report the incident and said she felt unable to tell Camilla about it.
“There was nobody to report it to. I could’nt (sic) report it to the Queen Consort, plus it was such a shock to me and the other 2 women, that we were stunned to temporary silence,” she wrote.
“I just stood at the edge of the room, smiled & engaged briefly with who spoke to me until I could leave.”
Ms Jacob tweeted it was “a horrible thing to happen, and in a space that should have been nothing but love and celebration” and said she would be raising it with the team who organised for them to be there.
As of right now, Buckingham Palace has refrained from commenting.
Serious issues are raised for the Palace in light of the alleged incident, which comes after the Duchess of Sussex accused an unnamed royal of racism against her unborn son Archie last year.
Meghan, the first mixed-race woman to marry a senior royal in decades, said during an Oprah interview that Harry was warned by a royal, neither the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh, about how dark Archie’s skin tone might be before his birth.