Robert Lacey is quoted in this Newsweek article about the Queen dancing with Ghana’s President in 1961.
Queen Elizabeth II showed her anti-racism credentials when she sparked global headlines by dancing with Ghana’s president in 1961—while America was still facing segregation, Robert Lacey tells Newsweek.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leveled racism allegations at an unnamed royal who they said expressed concern about how dark baby Archie’s skin would be before he was born.
However, the couple were quick to rule out Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, as possible suspects.
While Philip, who left hospital after four weeks yesterday, has been accused of racism numerous times in the past, the queen herself has placed the Commonwealth at the heart of her role.
In 1961, in the height of the cold war, Britain and America feared Ghana would leave the Commonwealth and fall under the influence of the Soviet Union, U.K. newspaper The Times reported.
Up stepped the queen, then 35, on a mission to persuade President Kwame Nkrumah not to leave the partnership of nations she cherished.
During a visit to capital city Accra, the queen was photographed dancing happily with the Ghanaian leader at a time when black people in America were still denied the right to vote.
Robert Lacey, who charted Harry’s feud with Prince William in Battle of Brothers, told Newsweek Meghan’s racism allegations had not dented Britain’s belief in the Queen’s commitment to diversity.
He said: “Whatever the implications of alleged racism, nobody in their heart feels that’s true of the Queen herself.
“I remember when I was growing up in 1961, there was a photograph of the Queen dancing in the arms of President Nkrumah of Ghana.
Read the full article: How Queen Elizabeth II Danced With Ghana’s President Months After Civil Rights Bus Bomb
Robert Lacey is the author of Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult.
