Princess Michael of Kent wears 'racist' Blackamoor brooch

Princess Michael of Kent wears 'racist' Blackamoor brooch



Princess Michael of Kent has apologised after coming under fire for wearing a ‘blackamoor’ brooch to the Queen’s Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace, attended by Prince Harry’s mixed race fiancée Meghan Markle.



A spokesperson for the royal said that she's 'very sorry and distressed' for wearing the brooch, adding it was a gift she's worn many times before, without controversy. 



The full statement said: 'The brooch was a gift and has been worn many times before.



'Princess Michael is very sorry and distressed that it has caused offence.'



Princess Michael, who is married to the Queen’s cousin, Prince Michael, could clearly be seen wearing the jewellery on her coat as she drove through the gates on Wednesday.



She was not sat at the same table as Miss Markle, 36, who was attending the event for the first time, but would have been introduced to her at the intimate, private gathering.



The royal bride-to-be, whose former lighting director father, Thomas Markle is white, and mother, Doria Ragland, is black, has often spoken about the racism she experienced both as a child and as a grown woman.





Blackamoor are a genre of figurines, small sculptures or jewellery which depict largely men, but sometimes women, with black skin usually from the 18th century.



Many will be worth £10,000 or more. 



The princess lives in an apartment at Kensington Palace, just a stone’s throw from Harry and Meghan’s cottage in the grounds.



But she was roundly condemned on social media with comments ranging from: ‘Has no-one noticed the blackamoor pin that Princess Michael of Kent is wearing.? Really? Meghan Markle official meets the family and is greeted by THIS?’



Another attacked her for her ‘racist jewellery’, while a third added: ‘I hope the Queen is going to ban this racist, horrible woman from any further gatherings. This woman is an embarrassment to the Royal Family.’



It is not the first time that the royal, dubbed Princess Pushy, has found herself at the centre of a racist row.



In 2004 she was accused of insulting a party of black diners at a smart New York restaurant by allegedly telling them to ‘go back to the colonies’ in a row over noise.



The princess strongly denied the allegations, claiming to have said she would be ‘ready to go back to the colonies’ during a dispute about noise with the other table.



But she subsequently went on to make a series of toe-curling remarks in a television interview about the incident, referring to African people as 'adorable'.



Talking of her extensive travels through Africa she said: ‘I even pretended years ago to be an African, a half-caste African, but because of my light eyes I did not get away with it, but I dyed my hair black.



‘I travelled on African buses. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted experiences from Cape Town to right up in northern Mozambique. I had this adventure with these absolutely adorable, special people and to call me racist: it's a knife through the heart because I really love these people.’



Bi-racial Miss Markle has told how she feels compelled to speak out about racism after being subjected to years of prejudice by people unaware of her heritage.



She claimed that some who believed she was Caucasian even made distasteful 'black jokes' in front of her.



She has also told of her anger and hurt at hearing her mother called ‘the ‘N’ word’ when she was pulling out of a parking space.



‘My skin rushed with heat as I looked to my mom. Her eyes welling with hateful tears, I could only breathe out a whisper of words, so hushed they were barely audible: 'It's OK, Mommy’,’ she said.





How Princess Pushy ‘told black diners to go back to the colonies’ and was ‘shocked’ to discover her father was a Nazi SS officer

Princess Michael's decision to wear the blackamoor brooch is not the first time she has been embroiled in controversy after allegedly telling black diners to 'go back to the colonies' and claiming not to know her father was an SS officer.



In 2004 she was branded a racist by a group in a New York restaurant after a row erupted over the noise she claimed they were making.



The royal was accused of slamming her hand down on the group's table, telling them: You need to quiet down.'



Restaurant boss Silvano Marchetto offered to move Princess Michael and her party to another room.



Before switching tables the royal is alleged to have said 'you need to go back to the colonies'.



The princess was reportedly challenged at the time and was said to have replied: 'I did not say "back to the colonies", I said you "should remember the colonies".