Meghan Markle on Being Mixed-Race in the Royal Family: Podcast

Meghan Markle Spotify portrait — (Image credit: Courtesy of Spotify)

Meghan Markle has been subjected to a whole lot of racism since she crashed onto the scene as Prince Harry's girlfriend.

And although the Suits actress had sadly experienced it before, it was in a different way, she has claimed on the new episode of her podcast, Archetypes, which was released on Aug. 30.

This episode features a dissection of the word "diva" in conversation with proud diva Mariah Carey, and the two women bond early on in the episode over their shared experiences growing up mixed-race in America.

The Duchess of Sussex also reveals that she looked up to Carey in her youth as an example of what a successful mixed-race woman could look like.

"For us, it's so different because we're light-skinned, you're not treated as a Black woman, you're not treated as a white woman, you sort of fit in between," the duchess described.

"I mean, if there's any time in my life that it's been more focused on my race, it's only once I started dating my husband.

"Then I started to understand what it was like to be treated like a Black woman, because up until then I'd been treated like a mixed woman, and things really shifted."

While she was working as a senior royal, Markle's son was called a slur by mainstream British tabloids, and she was subjected to harmful comments like the one someone in the Royal Family made about what color Archie's skin would be.

And when compared to the press' treatment of Kate Middleton, Markle was treated very poorly, which many commentators have rightly attributed to her race.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.