Lady Susan Hussey, One Of THE QUEEN’S Ladies In Waiting, Resigned After Repeatedly Asking Black Charity CEO Ngozi Fulani Where She Was “Really” From
In a totally shocking turn of events, one of the Royals did something racist. Introducing Lady Susan Hussey, THE QUEEN’S former Woman of the Bedchamber (a top lady-in-waiting), Lady of the Household (that’s the title King Charles gave her after THE QUEEN’S death), and Prince William’s godmother. Last night, 83-year-old Lady Hussey attended a charity event at Buckingham Palace, also attended by Ngozi Fulani. Ngozi runs Sistah Space, an East London non-profit that supports Black women affected by abuse. Ngozi says Lady Hussey approached her ten minutes into the event. She moved Ngozi’s hair (!!!) to look at her name badge and asked, “Where are you from?” Oh no. Ngozi answered, “Sistah Space.” Lady Hussey asked again. Ngozi answered that her charity was based in Hackney. But we all know that’s not what Lady Hussey meant. She wanted to know where Ngozi’s “people” “really” came from. “What part of Africa are you from?” Ngozi transcribed Lady Hussey’s horrifyingly racist line of questioning on Twitter. After the post went viral, the BBC reported that Buckingham Palace had released a statement saying that “the individual concerned” was sorry and had immediately resigned from her position. Prince William also made his own statement. He said, via a spokesperson, that “racism has no place in our society.” Racism? Bad? Groundbreaking.
Here’s Ngozi’s tweet describing the incident:
Mixed feelings about yesterday's visit to Buckingham Palace. 10 mins after arriving, a member of staff, Lady SH, approached me, moved my hair to see my name badge. The conversation below took place. The rest of the event is a blur.
Thanks @ManduReid & @SuzanneEJacob for support🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/OUbQKlabyq— Sistah Space (@Sistah_Space) November 30, 2022
A few hours later, Ngozi’s charity tweeted that they weren’t going to “name & shame” Lady SH, but everybody in the media had already put two and two together:
Thanks everyone for their support. It is not our wish to reveal the person involved, it is the system that needs to be revised.
Yes the person was offensive, but it serves no purpose to name & shame her, it would make us just as bad. We prefer that this be handled kindly 🙏🏾— Sistah Space (@Sistah_Space) November 30, 2022
Later, Ngozi told The Independent that she didn’t want to see Lady Hussey “vilified.” She said the issue was “bigger than one individual. It’s institutional racism”, via BBC:
“I was in shock after it happened and anybody who knows me knows I don’t take this kind of nonsense,” she said.
“But I had to consider so many things. As a Black person, I found myself in this place where I wanted to say something but what happened would automatically be seen as my fault, it would bring [my charity] Sistah Space down. It would be ‘oh, she has a chip on their shoulder’.”
The conversation was witnessed by the leader of the British Women’s Equality Party, Mandu Reid. Mandu told BBC News that Lady Hussey’s questions were “offensive, racist, and unwelcoming.” She said she had a “sense of incredulity” about the exchange. Here’s Buckingham Palace’s full statement about the incident:
We take this incident extremely seriously and have investigated immediately to establish the full details. In this instance, unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments have been made. We have reached out to Ngozi Fulani on this matter, and are inviting her to discuss all elements of her experience in person if she wishes.
In the meantime, the individual concerned would like to express her profound apologies for the hurt caused and has stepped aside from her honorary role with immediate effect. All members of the household are being reminded of the diversity and inclusivity policies which they are required to uphold at all times.
And Prince William’s statement, via Entertainment Tonight:
“This is a matter for Buckingham Palace but as the Prince of Wales’ spokesperson I appreciate you’re all here and understand you’ll want to ask about it,” the spokesperson told reporters. “So let me address it head on. I was really disappointed to hear about the guest’s experience at Buckingham Palace last night. Obviously, I wasn’t there, but racism has no place in our society. The comments were unacceptable, and it is right that the individual has stepped aside with immediate effect.
A few hours ago, the Independent’s YouTube released a video of Queen Consort Camilla meeting Ngozi. “Look, Camilla wasn’t racist!” The only part of the conversation I can make out is Camilla nodding and saying, “So important.” After Camilla turns away, the camera catches Ngozi having a separate convo with another person. At one point, she says, “I’m just thrown, you know what I mean?” Either Ngozi is talking about her disturbing convo with Lady Hussey, or Camilla’s overwhelming star power. My money’s on the former:
Lady Susan Hussey was THE QUEEN’S bestie. She was her longest-serving lady-in-waiting, having first been recruited in 1960. Susan was so close to THE QUEEN that she sat beside her in the royal Bentley on the way to Prince Phillip’s funeral. As reported in yesterday’s Crumbs, the Palace just announced Camila’s ladies-in-waiting will be known as “the Queen’s companions.” Last week they announced Lady Hussey and THE QUEEN’S other ladies-in-waiting would help King Charles host events and be known as “ladies of the household.” But after today’s “resignation”, Lady Hussey is just a basic-ass Baroness with zero royal responsibility.
Oh, I forgot to mention this little tidbit about Lady Hussey. The Mirror reports that THE QUEEN deployed the Lady to visit Meghan Markle at Nottingham Cottage after her wedding to Prince Harry. According to Tom Bower’s book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry, And The War Between The Windsors, the visit was an attempt to help Meghan acclimatize to royal life. Hoo boy. On the plus side, Lady Hussey may be the perfect scapegoat for the other racist royals. If Harry and Meghan ever end up outing the person who asked about baby Archie‘s skin color, and it’s revealed to be, oh, I dunnooo, Queen Consort Camilla, Buckingham Palace can just say something like, “Poor Meghan got her old white ladies confused. Camilla didn’t say that, it was that no-good LADY HUSSEY, who we already shit-canned! #CaseClosed”
Pics: Zak Hussein/INFphoto.com & Twitter