Opinion: The problem isn’t Meghan Markle. It’s the British monarchy

The barrage of unproven criticism and, in the case of that last claim, outright slander aimed at the newest member of the British royal family has been appalling. Her supporters have finally begun to call it out: Five of Meghan’s friends took the unusual step of speaking anonymously to People magazine this week about their admiration for the Meghan they know, who “personifies elegance, grace, philanthropy.” And, in an excellent Washington Post article this week, the author Yomi Adegoke breaks down the ways structural racism lies behind many of the attacks on the first biracial woman to marry into the House of Windsor.

As Britain awaits the birth of Meghan’s first child with Prince Harry, it seems clear that the reality of a royal child with a black grandmother has brought to the fore prejudices that were more generally veiled around the announcement of her marriage.