As we discussed, Buckingham Palace is suddenly in the market for a “diversity tsar.” The Mail on Sunday claimed that BP, Kensington Palace and Clarence House are suddenly super-keen on looking like they’re not completely racist. Sure, they uphold white supremacy and their house of cards was built on colonialism, but they’ll make a point to hire some Black and brown folks. Not in any serious positions, of course. Not in any office positions, one would think. It honestly sounded like they would hire a (white) diversity tsar who would tell them “hire more people of color” and the Windsors would, in turn, hire some token POCs in lower positions. And all of this was clearly in reaction to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s provable claims of racism, correct? Incorrect!

Weeks after Meghan Markle spoke openly about the racism she said she experienced from within the royal family, the Queen is making plans to appoint a “diversity czar” as an effort to modernize the monarchy.

A source told Vanity Fair that plans to diversify the palace as a workplace have been in the works for some time, and long before Meghan’s comments to Oprah Winfrey. “This is an issue which has been taken very seriously across the Royal Households,” the sources said. ”We have the policies, the procedures and programmes in place but we haven’t seen the progress we would like and accept more needs to be done, we can always improve. Therefore we are not afraid to look at new ways of approaching it. The work to do this has been underway for some time now and comes with the full support of the family.”

[From Vanity Fair]

The talks about a diversity tsar “have been in the works for some time, and long before Meghan’s comments to Oprah Winfrey.” So… why wasn’t anything done about it BEFORE the interview? Was it because the Palace was so busy cosigning William’s unhinged scheme to paint Meghan as an “aggressive, angry” bully? That’s the “tell” if we were playing poker. The best case scenario was that the Windsors had a front-row seat to how Meghan was abused by the institution and the media (and much of it was racist) and they did nothing but make vague plans to consider hiring a diversity tsar at some point but never got around to it. The worst case scenario is that they’re a bunch of racist a–holes who actively racially abused the one woman of color in the family, bullied her out of the country and now, in a blatant bureaucratic ass-covering move, introduce the tsar plans.

Omid Scobie’s coverage of this story was interesting too:

Though a Buckingham Palace source explains that internal talks about creating the position began before the Sussexes sat down with Oprah Winfrey for their tell-all, it is the first time that the royal establishment has come close to admitting to a much-needed focus on understanding the importance of diversity and ensuring that the inner-workings of The Firm are representative of modern-day society.

A report in Britain’s Mail on Sunday suggested that the queen will be hiring a “diversity tsar,” however the senior palace aide tells BAZAAR that plans are still preliminary. “It is something that has to be considered, but it is too early for any firm plans to be announced,” the aide explains. “We are listening and learning to get this right.”

Over the months ahead, royal family members will no doubt be seen putting focus on representation in their own public endeavors, and sources say that the palace itself will also seek out independent views to help “assess and improve” the institution’s approach to the matter. “We take a broad view on diversity,” says the source. “This includes LGBTQI+ and disability representation.”

There is no word on whether members of the family themselves will receive any awareness training.

[From Harper’s Bazaar]

Once again, the palace aides can’t even get their stories straight. If the diversity tsar was something being discussed for a long time (before the Oprah interview) why are the plans so “preliminary” and why are they “listening and learning to get this right.” It’s bureaucratic double-speak – they want credit for acknowledging (in their half-assed way) that they know they have racism issues but they’re not actually doing anything about it except announce their keenness to make plans to eventually hire a diversity tsar at some point, maybe. And Scobie is shady as hell for suggesting that perhaps people within the family need awareness training. He’s right though.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN, Backgrid.