Prince William looks fit to explode as his much punted Boston Earthshot trip is knocked sideways by the furore over unbelievably crass questions from a close Royal intimate at a London charity function. Lady Susan Hussey, a former lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, managed to make one black invitee feel as if she didn’t belong after repeated queries about where she ‘really’ came from.
Having had their recent Caribbean tour criticised by an ill-advised ‘colonial’ parade on the back of a landrover, the Wales were presumably hoping to put the Royal ‘racist’ criticisms ladelled around by Meghan Markle to rest. It’s almost spooky the timing of the fiasco.
Lady Susan Hussey, 1 May 1939, a daughter of the Earl of Waldegrave, married the former head of the BBC, Marmaduke Hussey, and joined the Royal household in 1960, was made godmother to Prince William and accompanied the Queen to Prince Philip’s funeral. She’s woven into the fabric of the Royal family which makes her behaviour all the more damaging.
Although reputed to be sensitive and diplomatic she has a very, very tough chart. She is a Sun Taurus with a Libra Moon. But her chart is dominated by an Earth Grand Trine of Uranus in Taurus trine Neptune trine Mars in Capricorn – practical, materialistic, limited in her vision. Her Mars opposes Pluto and squares onto a hard-edged Saturn in Aries; and her Neptune opposes Jupiter in Pisces. So her Pluto and Jupiter (in trine) are her leading planets. Scrape off the tact of the Libra Moon, and she is formidably self-assured, stubborn and not overly compassionate.
William has a ‘major setback’ tr Saturn opposition his Sun/Mars midpoint exactly now as well as a confidence-dampening tr Saturn opposition his Mercury/Jupiter midpoint plus an over-stressed and explosive tr Uranus square his Mercury/Pluto midpoint.
Relocating his chart to Boston, it’s clear that it does not bring out the best in him, burying his Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn, Mars in the hidden 12th and Sun in the even more hidden 8th. Plus it gives a 16 degree Leo midheaven which tr Uranus is presently elbowing in square.
His relationship with Meghan Markle is also flagging up more than a hint of chill with tr Saturn opposition the composite Moon exactly now.
Quite what prompted Susan Hussey into such a witless, blunderingly insensitive line of questioning defies explanation. She’s certainly old school but that’s no excuse.
So much to be revealed about Ngozi Fulani, this could also mean Ngozi Headley; Ngozi Headley-Fulani; Marlene Headley; Marlene Fulani; Mary Headley; Mary Fulani; Mary Headley-Fulani; or Sister Ngozi. This is all the same person.
Her charity Sistahspace is worth looking into. @ JustPikachoo has done just that in one remarkable twitter thread. Extensive nepotism and lack of accounting as well as many remarkable associations have been revealed.
People showing support for Fulani may soon have second doubts.
When victimhood is currency, beware of counterfeits.
So before this topic falls off the cliff of the front page I would like to say, I have read most comments with interest and as black as I am, I don’t have a dog in this fight. Firstly, I would have answered differently and with confidence, that yes, my ancestors are African, I come from the Caribbean because they were placed there, and I am now a British National because we were part of the Empire or at least been here more than 5 years to qualify. Lady Hussey would have been clear then.
I would not and am not offended that she asked the question many times. Who knows … maybe she has a hearing problem. Maybe Ms Fulani is not confident about her heritage and history and wants to feel like she belongs in the UK… maybe the UK is all she knows. Who knows!
Whether Ms Fulani changed her name to an African one and the clothes as symbolic is really not the point. All of us as ‘black’ persons originated from Africa. Our ancestors and then us ended up with our family tree and heritage in the Caribbean or the Americas. Then under colonialism we were taught in many of those Caribbean islands that England was the ‘mother country’. Take that how you want. Bottom line is Ms Fulani wanted to be recognised as being British but did not explain herself correctly with confidence. The thing none of you all seem to realise is the difference between growing up in the Caribbean with confidence and growing up in the UK with none because the education system literally tries to put you in your place as a ‘black’ child (I don’t know which was her experience). There are many people of color who have to navigate this situation on a day to day basis even when they know no where else except here in the UK.
Ms Fulani had her moment to speak for all those who feel like her and she blew it. Lady Hussey was out of her depth in today’s climate and at her age probably didn’t see the avalanche approaching with her constant push for an answer (which probably works okay in a more personal setting but not so much so in the situation she was in).
There are truly many lessons to be learned here but trying to go down the road of blame is not one of them. I think the crucks of things for me is the way this is being dissected and debated, as if blame has to be laid to one or the other. They are both accountable and responsible for this mess. Ms Fulani is clearly not as confident about herself and her heritage hence the upset.
And yes, I am Jamaican and British, and I am secure in who I am and what my history is. No one can make me feel otherwise. My ancestors have practically built and later contributed to the success story of this country (and the Western world) and I’m cool with that. I don’t need someone not fully informed to educate me about how I should feel about all that. Unfortunate for Ms Fulani. Someone tell me otherwise!!
One love
Love your answer and your confidence.
Thank you, beautifully put.
I think it a possibility that Ms Fulani deliberately goaded Lady Hussey with a predetermined agenda to play the race card to help prove Megan Markles claim of racism in RF. Ms Fulani could easily have sounded slightly offended and deliberately pretend to misunderstand the questions being asked , therefore prolonging the conversation which would become very tiresome for an 84 year old especially as she must be used to being spoken to with respect at such events and was maybe a little tired or hard of hearing .Lady Hussey may have persisted further than she would normally do because she would worry she had caused offence somehow or feel Ms Fulani had misunderstood her questions . Of course no one was there to verify this one way or another but I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that I think it would be possible to goad someone into reacting in a way that they normally wouldn’t and then exaggerate your interpretation of things .I also suspect Lady Hussey is not allowed to speak up for herself or is too upset by the whole thing to do so.
Lynne Also we’ve still only heard one side of the story Ms Fulani’s (aka Marlene Headley) which is claimed to be ‘verbatim’. She has a better memory than me in a noisy crowded room unless it was recorded?
And what is your evidence for your suppositions?
There are many layers to this story, not least the class angle, if Miss Fulani wanted to deflect the persistent questioning all she needed to do is say that she was there representing an organization looking after black and minorities victims of domestic abuse and in turn ask where abused titled ladies go for help.
The shape shifting nature of Neptune in Pisces is very much a leitmotif of the current age. It is also encloses everything in fog making it difficult to see what exactly is happening. The recent Hussey incident is a classic example. It is also notable that the matter has been given by media speculation and that everyone assumes positions on the issue when the reality is none of them were present and most of the information comes from the parties involved.I certainly believe that Neptune in Pisces has been a Golden Age for offence takers of all sorts and that they may find themselves in a very different world when the planet moves to Aries.
Most of the information comes from *one* of the parties involved.
I don’t understand why some keep interpreting this as someone asking where are you from, a perfectly normal question. But Ms. Furlani answered it and it was Lady Susan’s persist question of her “true origins” that is offensive. If she was curious about the dress she could have just asked about the dress in a polite, complimentary way.
This encounter, which I’m sure is not unique, just highlights that the royals are woefully failing to make themselves relevant to all Britons. Going to war against Meghan Markle, the first mixed race family member, was a real own goal. No matter how annoying she was, there should have been a greater effort to appear sympathetic to her complaints about racially slanted criticism.
Yes that’s the aspect I can’t get my head around – the persistance. At best, that’s a very odd lack of social skills for someone in that position. The only other thing I can think of is that she may have panicked and got defensive when she should have just dropped it and changed the subject, like she just kept on digging and making it worse when it should have been left at “Hackney”.
On the other hand, it’s the word perfect transcript that has emerged, as though it’s from a pin-sharp, photographic memory. It’s back to those awkward questions about memory and victimhood – and the variance in recollections, as QE2 may have put it.
Lady Susan’s job was probably as much about introducing the woman to the.HMTQ, As such she was trying to gain a bit of information, that would facilitate that conversation when being introduced.
And if you are going to attend a function wearing African tribal dress, being asked where you are from would hardly be surprising. Lady Susan may have crossed a line, in an effort to do her job. But you cannot say, the other lady is an innocent in all this.
It is as though she is absolutely relishing her moment to humiliate an 83 year old woman. This is a case where a chip on the shoulder turns into professional victim hood, and isn’t it lucrative!
In America you are forever tripping over people determined to share their ancestry. So why should it be seen as a massive insult? I wish Lady Susan a happy retirement!
Linda Yes I thought from the very long verbatim conversation transcript that Ms Ngomi Fulani (previously Marlene….. ) put on Twitter that she seemed to be almost deliberately misunderstanding what Lady H was trying to ask albeit somewhat clumsily as she seemed unable to make any headway. It’s possible LH was also having trouble hearing exactly what Ms Fulani’s responses were as the room was packed and noisy and did not perceive her discomfiture? I’ve always had a problem with auditory perception and difficulty hearing when there’s background hub hub.
Her claim to have felt “abused and violated” by the exchange seemed somewhat extreme when compared to the experience of the victims of domestic abuse whose cause she was there to champion. She has distracted from that cause dramatically.
She could have used the opportunity to try to educate LH about ancestry/race and her charity.
She claimed to have been too upset to speak to anyone after the conversation and waited to leave on the fringes of the room but was seen on camera speaking directly to Queen Camilla afterwards in the middle of the throng.
She has previously accused, as someone else mentioned, Charles and Camilla (or RF I forget) of subjecting Meghan to domestic abuse. This would surely be libellous in print but maybe you can get away with it on Twitter? Maybe not exactly a neutral attendee? This is only my personal opinion from what we know so far. More may emerge..
I wondered about the hearing thing – I’m younger than Susan Hussey and have difficulty in crowded spaces distinguishing what is being said especially with accents.
Having said that she agreed to go and shouldn’t have pushed on when she was told London or Manchester or whatever to her initial question.
It was the physical moving of someone’s hair that really struck me as very odd
It is being commented in press circles that the Palace is expected to listen to campaigners who are hoping that an appointment will be made of “a diversity tsar” who can train the courtiers etc., in dealing with guests from minorities making them feel at ease and welcome when visiting.
It is all in the training.
Well, I work in customer services over the phone. My name sounds very similar to an Indian name. I am asked a lot by people of South Asian descent where I am from. We have a laugh when I say Wales. I then explain that my name is very similar to an Indian name but is in fact Welsh. Are these people being racist too. Should I get offended?
About time you started getting offended. The more offended you are and more you identify as a victim, the more powerful you are at the moment.
With me, it is the other way around. I am often told by people that I speak with over the phone (very often themselves Caribbean) that I sound Caribbean myself (either Jamaica or Trinidad, but occasionally even Guyana). I have never been there nor any of my family.
But from my point of view, it is a great ice-breaker and we have a good laugh. I can’t be offended by that, as I am sure that those people mean it as either a compliment or to include me as one of them.
Not read all the comments, this may have been pointed out already, but I’m very sceptical of the story. Most media stories to be honest. Just look at the skies right now!
Mars in Gemini and retrograde, and square Neptune when this story came out. This is a heady cocktail of misunderstandings, and stories blown out of proportion. Gemini ruling the media. Also, the Mars and Neptune square was also activated by Mercury, in its detriment in Sagittarius, and the sign ruling travel, migration, overseas, with Neptune in the mix, so that would include curiosity combined with confusion over topics of conversation on nationality. Both parties seemed to have misinterpreted the situation, and the media are just relishing in it, as always.
As a side note, I get asked all the time, where do I originally come from. And that’s from every colour of people, white, black, asian, and so on. I never saw it as racism, just a mildly boring subject. People are simply curious. Ask a Gemini! (where Mars is currently retrograding)
Thanks for the Mars retrograde, sq. Neptune info.
Now reading through the sanctimonious and rather febrile comments in a new light. So many seem to embrace willful ignorance or projection to match up with their worldview. Someone even denounced their aged mum in a show of contrition. Not too much of a stretch to view this in the light of a struggle session from the Cultural revolution. Fortunately Lady Hussey was spared the duncecap and beating.
The Irish have the plastic paddy to contend with. Eyes indeed roll on the character of Ms. Fulani
A twitter observer pointed out that “Marlene Headley is a British Chancer of Caribbean origin, caricaturing African culture + heritage, right down to a made up name.
Why has a Woman from Barbados appropriated a Nigerian Igbo name, then paired it with a name of a tribe? That was my first inkling there was something off.
The cowrie shells and the outfit would have told any African, this woman aint “African”.
To top off the whole story, Fulani made claims that ” Our charity supports black women DV survivors. I can’t stay silent about this. I admire Meghan for speaking out. According to clear definition, it seems Meghan is a survivor of DV from her in-laws.”
This from a woman representing a domestic violence charity, it boggles the mind.
This story escaped vetting of any sort and so many people hitched their righteous indignation wagons to it.
Thanks as always to Marjorie and the commenters.
The Guardian article included below is a solid read, for sure. Yes, this incident is being suspiciously boosted – the BBC certainly are savouring it.
However, people saying things like, “well now I felt uncomfortable asking minorities about their background for fear of being labelled a bigot”, is similar to when guys say they felt apprehensive approaching women for fear of being seen as predatory.
Often, it’s not about what you say as much as it is about HOW you say it. Please pay attention to basic nuances – be sensitive – not gagged! No one is asking anyone to not speak to minorities about their heritage – that’s NOT the takeaway here.
@marjorie
” witless, blunderingly insensitive line of questioning” ( by lady hussey)
I totally disagree with you marjorie.
That kind of event is very much about ” small talk”. Nothing else. No grand speach etc.
.
What do you say to some one you have never met previously to show your interest in the particular person?
How do you do ? how are you ? where are you from ?
Hose are very much ” standard” questions.
You must be either very ” thick” or ” prejudiced” to see racism in that kind of question..
Good of lady Hussey to quit. She made swiftly an end to a situation where prejudice was not on her side.
No discussion possible with somebody who feel ” victim” of any sign of kindness
I agree with every word you have just said Aline. Since when did it become crass or racist to ask someone where they are from! I suspect Lady Susan was just curious and just wanted a conversation. What has this world come to.
The following article, published in the Guardian, was written by a woman who is of color and was an actual witness to the conversation in question. In her article, Manu Reid addresses royal racism, the media’s role in this situation and long-standing, pervasive institutional racism. Well worth the read.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/01/lady-hussey-resign-monarchy-race-remarks-institution
Excellent article.
Ms Fulani didn’t have an invitation to attend. She came in on the back of a charity’s invitation.
Apparently the crowd was booing the mayor who is not popular. Also, Fulani changed her name from Marlene. Very strange things happening to support the RFK Ripple of Hope Award for fighting racism in the BRF.
Accepting the thorough apology issued by Buckingham Palace would be a good start as well … if goodwill is on Fulani’s agenda. (And yes, I flinched when I read that the Lady moved the charity founder’s hair to read her name tag…poor eyesight, maybe, poor manners, definitely, senior superiority – probably! )
Fulani’s (somewhat understandable) bid to expand on victim issues has yet to include an acknowledgment that she *won*: Hussey swiftly resigned, offense was admitted.
How much more seriously could the complaint have been taken?
My post above was meant to log under
Ann’s post about good manners being a good place to start…
@ unmystic mom.
I think pluto intensifies the ruler of the sign it goes through. With sag. we saw expansion of for ex. world trade. Now is saturn very much upfront.
And i agree with you, that what is coming does mot make me optimistic. Much new tech involved i think, to control populations.
Knowing someone born a week later very well, my guess is you could have sent her on 100 diversity courses and she would still be none the wiser. She will consider herself to have led a successful life with her service to the Queen and the trappings of Royal life to boast and impress others with. The idea that there may be anything more important in life beyond those four walls will be beyond her smallmindedness.
With the death of The Queen that smallmindedness will be being rocked. All the things that have stood her in good stead changing with the accession of KC3 and William beginning to voice his opinions as he has become heir. Camilla also making changes by not appointing ladies-in-waiting. On a personal level, the death of The Queen will be huge for her as I suspect she has lived off the reflected glory.
As for resigning with immediate effect, she did that to avoid further accountability and the embarrassment of a reprimand rather than out of any sense of regret or guilt. With her taurus / libra / saturn-in-aries chart, I suspect she’s rather passive-aggressive and this whole incident was just waiting to happen.
GD – I largely agree with you, I think your observations are astute but I don’t think its right to project the reasons for her resignation. I think it is as just as likely she is horrified and probably uncomprehending at the way this incident has been seized on as evidence of racism in the RF. I do think her questioning was off and open to being called racist, I do not think it was done with malice and I really don’t enjoy the social media pile-on but I do think it was right Lady SH resigned immediately. I also appreciate the charity lady she spoke to has a history of critiquing the RF for racism, that she did have cause to feel offended and like you I think it was just a matter of time before something like this happened. It was inevitable the first avenue of complaint was via global social media. There is no room for well intentioned old school ‘head girls’ in today’s world where every Palace mis-step is seized on and exploited to suit global agendas.
There are alternative interpretations. This is a hoot;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFkUdMMllT4&t=1s
@ will,
some home truth. Thank you.
The whole affaire has been blown up to stupid proportions, giving a audience to a ” pretence” of ” racism”. Media just parrotting along as usual. A storm in a glas of water.
The (black) woman discredits totally the cause of anti- racism
This is making fun of someone’s experience and personal appearance.. This Youtuber is being cruel and cruelty should not be a form of entertainment.Fulani felt uncomfortable and that was her individual experience. If you were to have an incredible hurtful experience and others were to deny how you truly felt about it and attempt to explain. How would you feel?
Then she brings a conspiracy theory about Meghan.
Made me feel it wasn’t just me that thought she was bonkers and just wanted attention. And no one to corroborate.
The deliciously named Lady Hussey, an oxymoron if ever there was one, is 83 and she serves in an ultra traditional environment based on heredity, as apparently her daughter has been appointed lady in waiting to the Queen Consort, so therefore the rules of employment in more normal places do not seem to apply, usually someone that age would have retired or at least been assessed to see whether they are still fit for work and if necessary sent for further training, the King would do well to consider introducing a more diverse work force perhaps a few ladies in waiting and equerries from ethnic minorities, nothing would squelch rumours of racism more than to have other faces in court.
I notice this season the full moon on the 7th will be conjunct Mars in Gemini activating numerous scenarios leading to careless talk and actions.
The media are hyping it, it could have been played down and reduced to a storm in a tea cup or G&T.
I agree. The bigger issue is that palace is still stuck with age old systems and people. If monarchy has to survive they will have to keep up with the changing times.
It’s a huge challenge for King Charles, will he be able to do it?
You imply that racism is the prejudice of a ” white skin”. Which it is not. ” Colored” people can just be as intolerants and racists as any “privileged” white skined person
Truth
Marjorie, I think we will see some more turbulences as Pluto enters Aquarius ushering the break of old order.
Age old Mighty institutions challenged by little people. Replacement of the old order with a new fairer one.
Somehow that is not my reading of the change. To my intuition, Pluto breaks down the values of the sign it is passing through.
Pluto in Cancer (approx 1914-39) led to the destruction of the home (literal in some cases) and homelands that existed at the time, with both World Wars in that period.
Pluto in Leo (1939-1958) led to the removal of quite a few of the remaining monarchies around the world, from Italy to India, as decolonisation led to communist republics in many places.
Pluto in Virgo (1958-71) led to a rise in STDs (and thus health issues) with free love, etc.
If according to you, Pluto in Capricorn is destroying hierarchies, I would imagine (my interpretation) that Pluto in Aquarius will lead to destruction of communities, be they cultural, trade union or on a grander scale, political and national. Essentially a breakdown of society, which is community in its broadest sense.
Not at all looking forward to that.
Be very careful what you wish for. You may actually get it.
@Unmystic Mum, And ushering wider spread use of AI on its largest scale yet. Getting further away from people contact in everyday dealings with companies etc. Saw a report on a US state ordering shoot to kill AI police for their force. Worrying when the US police already have a problem with that within their forces that they haven’t really sorted out yet. In general worrying for most people who are still more socialised for human contact.
Pluto also monetises. In Sag, education particularly universities started costing huge amounts of money (debt also plutonian) to attend. In Aquarius, I wonder if we won’t see the rise of more paid clubs and social groups – money is a good barrier to entry now you can’t discriminate on characteristics.
I personally feel with this incident it is becoming more and more difficult to speak to people on a personal level. I literally asked the checkout guy in the supermarket last week “where are you from?”; to my mind an innocent question because he was very chatty to me, heavily accented and struggling with his English and I wanted to show interest in him. I suspect I won’t risk it in future. I wonder if one of the counterproductive consequences of Pluto in Aquarius will be people keeping their distance, as JenniferE suggests below, and by doing that actually putting up more barriers!
That is the sad thing – the tone of blame versus opening a dialog …just feels like a fresh load of eggshells got dumped on the path.
The problem is not that Lady H. asked “where do you come from”, but she persisted with asking “where do you *really* come from”, even after Ms Ngozi Fulani had replied “Hackney” and gave signs that she did not appreciate the direction of the conversation. Lady H’s line of questioning implies that someone with the looks and name of Ms Fulani is not really British. Being born in GB and having lived here all her life, Ms Ngozi identifies as British, so she feels insulted by these questions.
A separate issue from what was said to her because it’s unforgivable no matter the context, but if Ms Fulani is such a vocal opponent of the Royal Family, why was she even attending a Buckingham Palace event?
Fishing for things to complain about?
Also, perhaps, given that she had accused the King and Queen of domestic abuse and she had been invited to a function on domestic abuse being given by the Queen, perhaps she felt it was a bit ironic?
I cannot believe the timing of this scandal! I am confused about people born on the cusp? Is William astrology sign Gemini or cancer? What is Bill’s rising sign?
I must look back at KCIII’s ascension chart because it seems he has his work cut out trying to modernise and set new relationships with the Commonwealth. The gloves are off now the Queen is gone. Each situation that crops up has multiple layers and players with different and hidden agendas. How very Scorpionic.
I am going to go against the grain and say that I think there is something deeper going on.
From what I have seen from commentators on Twitter, the accuser (Ngomi Fulani, born February 27, 1965 according to one online source, but 1961 according to Wikipedia) has written critically of the royal family in the past anyway and so may have been looking for an event to throw in their face.
It also appears that she did not mention the event to anybody within Buckingham Palace itself (the event occurred at the start of her visit there), but waited until after the event to air it out publicly.
Her actions don’t seem to be entirely innocent either. It may have been a confected incident purely to drag a royal into disrepute and it is just that while most of the royals are quite guarded (due to their training), Lady SH (as she was addressed in Ngomi Fulani’s tweets) fell foul of modern standards of speaking.
Anyway, what goes around comes around. And I’m fairly confident that with her reputation, everybody in public life who interacts with the accuser will be very guarded and not give her any meaningful information. In other words, she will be frozen out of all but the most obligated meetings.
Ahh, Ngomi Fulani, the accuser, had also accused the King and Queen, when Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, of subjecting Meghan Markle to domestic abuse.
So she did not have the most favourable views of the royals by a country mile.
I don’t mean to suggest that Lady SH was wholly innocent, but that the accuser has a track record of, well, making public accusations, a serial accuser.
This Lady Hussey situtation irritates me to the core. If you live in the UK & wear an ethnic outfit, it reads that you are proud of your culture & ethnicity. If I ask you where you are from, I expect you to tell me proudly, not cry racism. Watching an 82 year old lady with 62 years of unblemished service be treated this way has sickened me. Totally unbelievable that she remembered word for word the exchange between them. People online are now digging into her supposed charity and finding irregularities, too much to list here.
This is exactly what I thought..
Francine Agree. Ms Fulani was wearing a leopard skin design tribal-looking outfit with a necklace of teeth. She uses an African name which is not usual for someone of Caribbean origin though maybe it’s becoming more common? Think she was Marlene originally.
Don’t know if it’s true but a mixed race lady fleeing DV claims to have been turned away by Ms Fulani’s shelter for being mixed race as she was “too privileged”. Is her charity only for black DV victims?
Like GnarlyD I’m very interested in people and different cultures and sometimes ask people where they are from etc but will be much more circumspect in future.
But in a conversation one should be satisfied with the answer someone gives us. Especially at a a social event. One of two questions fine but trying to get to the bottom of it turns into an investigation. Not proper at all in such settings.
Francine Agree. Ms Fulani was wearing a leopard skin design tribal-looking outfit with a necklace of teeth. She uses an African name which is not usual for someone of Caribbean origin though maybe it’s becoming more common? Think she was Marlene originally.
Don’t know if it’s true but a mixed race lady fleeing DV claims to have been turned away by Ms Fulani for being mixed race as she was “too privileged”. Is her charity only for black DV victims?
Like GnarlyD I’m very interested in people and different cultures and sometimes ask people where they are from etc (might be from another country or just a different part of U.K. because of their accent) but will be much more circumspect in future.
Read somewhere she was born Mary Headley, to parents of Barbadian birth.
Some people you just cannot make happy. I think this will backfire on Ms. Fulani.
Many layers to this event it seems. Of course there is conscious and unconscious bias, not least around the issue of class, as well as racial origins. And I think Hugh is onto something re Neptune in Pisces, for identities of every kind are evolving and shifting all the time. What happens with Neptune in Aries? it’ll be interesting to see.
Ms Ngozi Fulani has said this:
“Ms Fulani claims she then said: ‘Lady! I am a British national, my parents came here in the 50s’, to which the woman replied: ‘I knew we’d get there in the end. You’re Caribbean’. Ms Fulani replied: ‘No Lady I am of African heritage, Caribbean descent and British nationality’.”
I imagine she’s done some research into her family background and DNA. Her first name is from the Igbo tribe in Nigeria, so perhaps she chose it to honour her African ancestors. She will, however, have other ancestry as well.
My own Afro-Caribbean family members, and friends, also have African heritage of course. But various DNA tests reveal that, owing to the history of various island nations, there is also Jewish, White European, White English, Scottish and Irish, Indian, Chinese, and Carib Indian DNA. The Irish, for instance, were often indentured servants in the British West Indies, or forcibly transported there to work. A similar story can be told about the Indians and Chinese.
Old fashioned etiquette said you must not discuss sex, politics, or religion at a social event. Avoiding questions of identity and gender should be added to that list…..
Agreed. I’m suspicious of Ms. Fulani’s tactics and it was front and center on the BBC’s website. Aren’t there MANY more pressing issues right now we need to be aware of?
I agree it was timed for maximum damage. Lady Hussey is 83. I cannot believe the press have dragged her through this. I carry the dementia gene, it can be triggered at any time, what if she is unwell. This is the sick side of our News media in my view.
UMom I’m inclined to agree. Also yesterday a screenshot was released of Meghan, her mother and Archie on Zoom with a professor who is writing a book on ‘Racism in the Royal Family’. Today, on the second day of Williams’s Boston visit, a trailer of Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary about their ‘love story’ was released. I never used to be so cynical but a pattern seems to be emerging whenever the Royals are in the news promoting one of their charities.
The accuser, supposedly representing a domestic violence charity, has completely knocked the subject off the news.
I guess this incident will make the royals more careful, and they will try to avoid invitation to people who are critical of them.. own goal fulani
Carrying on with the line of conversation that your guests are not enjoying are bad manners. Especially, when your role was to engage with the people who were there on palace’s invitation. It also shows a sense of entitlement.
Old age/old fashioned cannot be an excuse for bad manners. Racist? I don’t know but showing good manners to others could be a start.
Unless you have witnessed it personally, it is difficult to say whether it was “bad manners” .. the tone of the words say more than the words itself .. and as someone else here pointed out, if you are proudly wearing your ethnic traditional clothing, how can you be offended when someone wants to know more about it ..
If the young of today are held up to the same manners as the old are(or even to the same standards when they were younger), the young will fail miserably. You can’t take away the context of the people involved
I think there is nothing wrong in asking someone where they are from. Most of us would have accepted her response and stopped asking the same question 10 times.
You don’t have much contact with older people I think.
Hi Ann –
My reply to your post has posted up top by mistake!
I suppose that Hussey might have been a bit confused by the fact that an Afro Caribbean woman who lived in the U.K. and whose family came from the West Indies had adopted an African name and dress. I suppose you would have to ask someone from an African country what they thought about that process. I know that quite a few Irish people resent the fact there are a lot of “plastic Irishmen” in places like the USA who claim to be Irish even though their connections with the country are tenuous to put it mildly. Perhaps a classic example of the rather malleable way identity is being used while Neptune is in Pisces. Given there is war in Eastern Europe, high inflation, an energy crisis, industrial strife, a failing health service and lots of people face losing their homes and/or their jobs in the next 12 months in the U.K. you might perhaps raise an eyebrow why this item is the lead item on the news channels.
Cognitive changes? Edit button gone?
That’s what I thought too. The restraint that seems to fade with advancing years colliding with someone who is perhaps quite thin skinned to be the head of a charity. I just collect for charity and you wouldn’t believe the abuse that gets hurled at you as a representative of that organisation.
Like others here, surprised by the amount of airtime this is getting.So many seem to be looking for a fight these days.
“William has a ‘major setback’ tr Saturn opposition his Sun/Mars midpoint exactly now as well as a confidence-dampening tr Saturn opposition his Mercury/Jupiter midpoint plus an over-stressed and explosive tr Uranus square his Mercury/Pluto midpoint.”
He was booed in Boston, attending a Boston Celtics basketball match, and I don’t know what was he, or his handlers, even thinking there. ♀️ I work with an Irish American guy from Massachusetts and had to bite my lip hearing things he said when the Queen died.
The Court being out of touch might not be as much a generational thing as they want to make it look.
Venus sign BTW wasn’t the one I was going after here, but it works.
We hear what we want to hear! We are all hearing one side of this argument and not the other; why did Ms Fulani not complain to a Buckingham Palace official rather than post something on Twitter 24 hours later where she repeats a convo verbatim? Perhaps she is trying to milk this, historically she has backed Meghan’s complaints of racism in the royal family on social media. Rudeness is rude full stop but those receptions are noisy and perhaps Lady Hussey had hearing problems and couldn’t hear properly? Just playing devils advocate here. This is a woman who was highly regarded by the Queen for dealing with all people at home and abroad and she would not have stomached racism. Ms Fulani was wearing native dress and perhaps Lady Hussey just wanted to know more about her culture but expressed herself clumsily? Lot of questions…
Interesting. The local Boston news did not mention any booing of William and Kate at the Celtics game, and I watched the whole second half of the game and they seemed to be having a great time, cheering whenever Celtics players made great shots. Presumably the booing was at the open of the game when they were introduced, so I missed it. But it made no local news whatsoever, which focused on their warm welcome at the other public events they attended, with various “man on the street” interviews showing people gushing over the Royals visiting. I suppose the local news wanted to play up the Royal visit as opposed to highlighting anything unpleasant. But at any rate, the booing was a short bit before everyone moved on to cheer on an exciting game, forgotten by all except the foreign media.
Good to hear an on-the-ground recounting of the boo coverage.
Tonight national news (!!) “reported” William and Kate were upstaged by Harry and Meghan because Netflix released their documentary teaser. The amount of b.s. lacquered on top of actual news has become daunting.
Also, I tend to doubt the booing in Boston had anything to do with the Susan Hussey thing and more to do with some idiotic Boston-was-where-the-American Revolution from the Crown started (they were chanting “USA USA” after booing, so little to do with the Hussey thing, despite the media linking the two). In fact, Boston sports fans have a sadly unsavory racist reputation; Lebron James hates Boston because, he said in 2021, “they racist as f–k” – you can look it up.
And there’s the East India Company yet again…..the Boston Tea Party being also a protest against the legal monopoly this vast military/mercantile outfit had on tea imports, thanks to an Act of Parliament designed to prop them up at a difficult time for the Company. Fingers in every pie it seems. And perhaps old sins cast long shadows, as they say.
…and I just assumed the Boo came from Celtic ire – as in Irish v British discords..
Honestly, I’m pretty sure they were just having a bit of fun, some good-natured ribbing. Someone who saw it said William laughed. The foreign press took it seriously for their own purposes.
One of the issues with perceived insults is intent. Was an 84 year old woman undergoing a Uranian Return (in the 10th, no less) intentionally trying to demean someone, or was she trying to satisfy her curiosity and unable to discern the discomfort she was causing. Yes, she was rude, after all, being a Royal by extension will make someone feel they are privileged and due answers to their questions. She might even have believed she was just showing interest in Ms. Fulani’s family history.
Not making excuses for her, but I know quite a few octogenarians whose social filters are no longer functioning. Especially towards younger generations.
“Quite what prompted Susan Hussey into such a witless, blunderingly insensitive line of questioning defies explanation. She’s certainly old school but that’s no excuse.”
I agree re octogenarians and lack of social filters. However, I think this type of behaviour is also more widespread than one might imagine. I’ve heard much younger people ask ‘where are you from’ to British born individuals from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. As a white person, I’ve also been asked that question many times because I don’t look ‘English’ apparently. I’ve even been asked ‘are you sure? but what about your parents?’ more than once. The line Susan Hussey used – “where are your people from” is also old-school aristo – often when trying to discover where someone sits on the social class ladder – ‘people’ meaning family. Very rude and arrogant, but there we are – that’s what many of them were (and are?) like.
@KateS, no, there was an outsider hearing the conversation, and Lady Susan should have left it there when Ms. Fulani told her she was from London. No excuse for poking more, since Black communities have been in London for generations now, and while some may want to identify also with their distant roots, many don’t.
I’ve seen the same. Appropriate for her to resign, but I’m not sure why it has to fall badly on William in Boston that an old lady godmother back home makes a racist blunder publicly. Embarrassing yes, mainly because the media finds it a much more headline grabbing story than his advocacy work on climate change. I live in the Boston area and the local news was all good here showing people excited to see William and Kate. Also, they were attending the Boston Celtics basketball game last night and appeared to be having a good time. I guess we’ll see how the next couple of days go here but they seem to be well received.
I think the whole point is that intent does not matter.
I’m fairly certain that it is not the intent, but if the person perceives it as an insult that matters. At least that is how it was covered in our corporate training.
If the person perceives it as an insult, even if the comment was not intended as harrasment or an insult, it can possibly led to a disciplinary by HR.
My late mother, who taught me to be colorblind and see people for who they are and not the color of their skin and who supported my sister’s work as a civil rights worker in Mississippi in the ’60s, turned out to be the most embarrassing racist in her ’80s. I often had to shush her when we were out in public — especially since she was extremely deaf and voiced her offensive comments loudly.
I do think some elders lose their filters with late age.
What prompted her was probably that she hates black people and had an opportunity to attack one of them.
Lady Hussey’s behavior was classic “Overlord”.
I worked with a guy once with a Mars-Pluto opposition. For the sake of his career, he claimed on his social media to be a strong supporter of BLM but he actually hated black people deep down and told me so. I suspect the Mars/Pluto in hard aspect to potentially churn bigotry…He was a Gemini Sun.
Lady Hussey’s behavior was just rude but imagine a role reversal. If a Nigerian born white woman attended a state dinner with Nigerian politicians and repeatedly insisted to them that she was a “Nigerian” when asked of her heritage, they would laugh in her face.
“If a Nigerian born white woman attended a state dinner with Nigerian politicians and repeatedly insisted to them that she was a “Nigerian” when asked of her heritage, they would laugh in her face.”
Not a good example, because just as almost all post-Colonial African countries, Nigeria is actually multiethnic country, and I doubt they’d have any issue with conceiving also white people of different ethnic backgrounds as “Nigerians”, if they’d been born and lived in the country, or had Nigerian heritage. In fact, they do have several players in their National Team who are actually mixed race and never have lived in Nigeria.
Isn’t Tiffany Trump’s husband a Nigerian of Lebanese ancestry?
Mixed race is not white.
She could hardly have worked so closely and so successfully for such a long time with the late Queen if she ‘hated black people’?
I think her comments and questioning her intended to sting. The more I read about Ms. Fulani, the more I think this is simply a case of two b*tches colliding.
Lady Hussey (the Queen’s lifelong friend) just witnessed Meghan Markle attempt to take a wrecking ball through the monarchy using exaggerated claims of it being a racist institution (even though she gladly married into it).
If Lady Hussey wasn’t a racist before, she probably is now.