Call it a coincidence: A dashing British prince marries an American divorcee and, viola, exits on the royal stage. It happened in 2020 with ‘Megxit,’ and it also happened in 1936, when King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson. While both events look superficially similar, Megxit poses a far greater threat than the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
Many have written about Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, who did a ‘tell all interview’ with Oprah Winfrey, aired on March 7 – 8, 2021. Up to 50 million people watched it worldwide. Markle’s husband, Prince Harry, joined the interview later.
Before we proceed, it should be said: ‘Tell all’ interviews do not bring peace, unity, reconciliation, and forgiveness’ and usually do more harm than good, including to the persons being interviewed.
The purpose of this second and final article is not to examine the details of the interview but to view the bigger picture issues it spawned. These can be divided into three parts:
- How the interview blended into the on-going and intensified culture war.
- The frontal attack on the British monarchy.
- Perhaps, the most important issue of all which was overlooked by many – the role of the family.
Culture War in Cameo
Last month, we focused on a couple of key aspects of the culture war brought to light in the Oprah interview: ‘woke’ and ‘identity politics.’ To this we add the following:
Cultural Marxism: Every thinking and concerned citizen needs to know about this theory. It is the notion of privilege, systemic racism, woke-ism, all are part of the larger picture. This ideology was birthed in the 1930s by the Marxist educators at the Frankfurt School. Key luminaries included Antonio Gramsci of the Italian Communist Party and Herbert Marcuse from Frankfurt. The goal was to undermine the values and infrastructure of Judaeo-Christian West and replace it with a Marxist utopia of equality, tolerance, and license. Faith and family were also in the cross-hairs of cultural Marxists, since they inhibit allegiance to big daddy government.
Gramsci taught that to undermine the West, you have to undermine western (Biblical) morality. Marcuse advocated a Marxist revolution based not on economics, since the proletariat just weren’t cooperating with the communist revolution. No, Marcuse’s Marxism was based on culture, race, identity and morals. Women, ethnic, sexual, and gender minorities are oppressed and white males are the oppressors; by infiltrating the cultural institutions, changing the vocabulary, and globally synchronised activism, the tables can turn and the Marxist paradise will dawn. Today’s ‘woke’ social justice warriors, with their activism, rioting, and cancel culture, resemble Mao’s red guard students during his 1960s Cultural Revolution; China was torn apart as a result.
The 1960s student unrest, fanned by this teaching, went underground, but now after half of century it has resurfaced again, stoked by decades of cultural Marxist curriculum in the education system. Even the church has been influenced by it.
Cultural Marxism spawns a victim mindset that was on full-display during the Oprah interview. Victims are free to tell ‘their truth,’ regardless of how subjective it might be. Their truth must be received uncritically, substantiation is not required, and the notion of ‘two sides to every story’ does not apply.
Meghan is left-wing, feminist who wanted to move monarchy in a ‘progressive’ manner. This was explicitly said in their first ‘Megxit’ statement. Fitting in with the royal family’s public stance of political neutrality was always going to be difficult for the duchess.
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald says: With all the suffering and deprivation and real persecution in the world, it is utterly astonishing how often coddled, well-paid, highly privileged, coiffed, insulated, protected US elites posture as the world’s most oppressed class. It’s quite sickening and offensive.’
With history being revised to buttress this narrative, students today are not learning about some of the anti-racist, pro-civil rights achievements of the ‘wealthy, white, western world.’ What about the following:
- Abolition of the slave trade by William Wilberforce;
- Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863;
- The abolition of slavery in the United States via the 13th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution;
- The successful civil rights movement and the celebrated work of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior (1929-1968). King was no cultural Marxist; he did not wanted to destroy America. He believed in the American system: Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, and Bill of Rights. His goal was to help African-Americans have a seat at the great American banquet table;
- The Voting Rights Act 1965;
- The Civil Rights Act 1964;
- War on poverty,
- Affirmative action.
- High achievers among African-Americans in sport, business, entertainment, US Supreme Court, including the ‘rags to riches’ success story of Oprah herself, a billionaire and one of the most influential women in the world.
The Monarchy & Western Civilisation
The Oprah interview can be seen for many things but one aspect major point was Meghan and Harry attack the monarchy, and the British press, as a racist, deceptive institution. Indeed, this is the main reason they left the United Kingdom. These are serious charges, but are they true? The palace was not given the right of reply.
While Harry and Meghan spoke positively of the Queen herself, attacking the monarchy is an attack on the monarch. They are inseparable. Elizabeth II represents many things: sterling dedication to duty and service, a living link to history and heritage, a symbol of the constitutional arrangement, the benefits of an apolitical head of state, which provides a stable form of governance. Perhaps her finest achievement is as the titular head of the Commonwealth of Nations, a cause to which she has devoted her life. No one is more respected, loved, and admired than her.
To equate the Crown and Commonwealth with racism is a serious, yet spurious accusation. Don’t confuse the Commonwealth with the British Empire, as Prince Harry did in a broadcast in 2020. The latter was colonial, hierarchical, and incorporated lands and people involuntarily. The Commonwealth, which comprises 54 sovereign nations, is a voluntary relationship on an equal footing. Citizens of member nations come from a variety of different races, and are celebrated as such. It is a big multi-ethnic family.
The monarchy has been and will continue to be attacked by those who despise western civilisation, of which the Crown is a potent symbol. Globalists and cultural Marxists have no time for it; they are the chiefest of republicans.
Yet spare a thought for the Queen, and her recently deceased husband Prince Philip, both in their nineties. They served with distinction the kingdom and Commonwealth for seven decades. The Duke of Edinburgh was in hospital during the Oprah interview and this, no doubt, weighed heavily on the Queen regarding her husband of 73 years. Imagine what it was like, at such a trying moment, the added indignity of having your grandchildren speak to an international audience of tens of millions and equating your life’s work with racism and deception. Something about this scenario was not right.
American civil rights warrior Bob Woodson, in his article ‘The Civil Rights Movement I was a Part of has been Betrayed by a Twisted Progressive Ideology says:
The left has today weaponized race not for the purpose of healing wounds but for
gaining power. We see this same pattern of weaponizing race emerging throughout our elite institutions. From Hollywood to major corporations and government agencies, unfounded and often life-altering allegations of racism from the relatively privileged get more attention than the myriad of challenges facing low-income and working-class Americans of every race.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/civil-rights-movement-betrayed-progressive-ideology
Single-Most Important Issue: The Family
‘Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee’ — Exodus 20:12 (the 6th Commandment)
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind … Proverbs 29:11
Family is God-ordained and sacred. None are perfect but we need to honour and respect it, as we would Almighty God. It is God’s command. If there is a problem, settle it within the family. Don’t broadcast it for the whole world to hear.
Prince Harry, who did less talking than Meghan, still managed to speak negatively about his immediate family, especially his father Prince Charles. ‘He won’t take my calls.’ ‘He cut us off financially.’ ‘I feel so let down.’ His strong and supportive brother William also was criticised. Harry called the post-interview reconciliation phone calls with Charles and William ‘unproductive.’ Does Britain and the world need to know this?
International television is not the place to air family grievances. Imagine the heartache for Charles, William, and the rest of the family, as the laundry was hung out before millions? Harry was much loved as a person and also for his work, both in royal duties or as a soldier in Afghanistan. His father, brother, his grandparents, and other near relatives have always been supportive of him. Is this the thanks they get for their investment of love? Do they not deserve better?
Unfortunately, Prince Charles did exactly the same thing in another famous ‘tell-all’ interview with Johnathan Dimbleby back in 1994. While admitting infidelity after the breakdown of his marriage to Princess Diana, he went on to say his mother the Queen was distant emotionally. His father Prince Philip was accused of being ‘harsh’ and ‘hectoring.’ Of course, the royal couple were deeply upset by these words, aired in public; Prince Philip’s response was that he and his wife the Queen did the best they could. No doubt.
There is a maxim: if the person or persons are not part of the problem or the solution, don’t involve them. Very sound advice. For all the verbal hand grenades that were calmly lobbed during the interview, this public airing of family disagreement was actually the most serious result of all. Remember that the royals cannot respond in public – and better that they don’t. The Queen’s wise motto: Never complain and never explain.’
It would be appropriate to pray for the Queen and Royal Family, including Harry and Meghan. God can and will bring great good out of it all.
