Buckingham Palace aide-de-camp Lady Susan Hussey apologized to Ngozi Fulani, founder of the NGO Espazo Sista, for making racist comments during a royal reception last November.
“Fulani, who has unfairly received the most appalling abuse on social media and elsewhere, accepts this apology and appreciates that there was no ill intent,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
The British royal family insisted that both Fulani and Lady Suzanne wanted “peace” and to “rebuild their lives” after “a very painful period for both of them”.
The decision was announced to King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla.
“They hope their example shows that wherever discrimination takes root, a path to resolution can be found through compassion, cooperation and condemnation,” Buckingham said in the statement.
Hussey, a former personal assistant to the late Elizabeth II and godmother to Prince William, persistently asked Fulani about her “background”, to which she replied that she was British and that her parents “came to England in the 1950s”.
This is not the first time racism has cast a shadow over the British royal family. In addition to their colonial past, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that they believe there is concern within the royal family that their children are not white enough.
