Martin Luther King Jr's son was 'disappointed' at way Meghan Markle was treated in the UK
The son of Martin Luther King Jr has said he was “disappointed” but “not surprised” by the treatment of Meghan Markle in her time as a senior royal.
Martin Luther King III said he saw “very very very difficult reports” of how the Duchess of Sussex was treated in the UK press.
The human rights advocate told i news: “I’m not surprised, in other words, it’s not like ‘oh, wow, that that’s a surprise’ because these institutions have been here forever. And the institutions have been structured in a certain way.
“So when you operate as Harry just happening to fall in love with someone who is not in the traditional set of circumstances, then there was going to be pushback.
“I think that’s the process that we have to still continue to work through to rid our society of racism.”
His comments come soon after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke to young leaders in the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust about feeling “uncomfortable” as racism and unconscious bias is tackled.
In the video call, Meghan said: “We’re going to have to be a little uncomfortable right now, because it’s only in pushing through that discomfort that we get to the other side of this and find the place where a high tide raises all ships.
“Equality does not put anyone on the back foot, it puts us all on the same footing – which is a fundamental human right.”
Read more: Meghan Markle tries to stop Mail On Sunday naming her five friends in court papers
The group also talked about the Commonwealth’s past, with Harry saying: “When you look across the Commonwealth, there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past, and guess what, everybody benefits.”
The couple, particularly Harry, were criticised in some quarters for their comments, because the Commonwealth is something the Queen regards as her proudest achievement during her 70-year reign.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex look likely to make tackling racial injustice and racism a key focus in their new non-profit organisation, Archewell, which they plan to launch in 2021.
They have been holding talks with community leaders since the death of George Floyd, and Harry recently apologised that “our generation and the ones before us haven’t done enough to right the wrongs of the past”.
Meghan is currently suing the Mail On Sunday and the MailOnline after segments of a letter she wrote to her father were published in the paper and on its website.
The duchess says her copyright was breached, but the paper says it will hotly contest the case.
