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Meghan couldn't have made her Black Lives Matter speech if she'd been a working royal

Photo credit: Pool - Getty Images
Photo credit: Pool - Getty Images

From Red Online

The Duchess of Sussex has spoken out powerfully against racism, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that has gained huge momentum since the harrowing murder of George Floyd.

In an address to students about to graduate from her old high school, Immaculate Heart (which she attended between the ages of 11 and 18), Meghan spoke movingly about the value of black lives, and how we need to work to prevent them being senselessly lost due to racism.

'George Floyd's life mattered and Breonna Taylor's life mattered and Philando Castile's life mattered and Tamir Rice's life mattered... and so many other people's, whose names we know and whose names we do not know. Stephon Clark, his life mattered,' she said.

The speech was undoubtedly heartfelt and moving, but it's interesting to note that there was one particular aspect of her video message which might not have made the speech possible had she still been a working member of the royal family.

During her recording, the duchess called upon the students from her old high school to see this moment not as an end, but as a beginning, and the start of their ability to make change.

'You are going to lead with love, you are going to lead with compassion, you are going to use your voice,' Meghan said sincerely.

'You are going to use your voice in a stronger way than you have ever been able to, because most of you are 18 or you're going to turn 18 so you're going to vote.'

Meghan left a lingering pause after her mention of voting. She then went on to urge change for the future - 'We are going to rebuild, and rebuild, and rebuild, until it is rebuilt - because when the foundation is broken, so are we' - suggesting that voting is a way to make this necessary change. A way to strive for better things to come.

The subtext was political. But as a senior member of the royal family, this probably wouldn't have been something Meghan would have been able to touch on in any public-facing address.

Photo credit: Samir Hussein - Getty Images
Photo credit: Samir Hussein - Getty Images

It's widely understood that the British royal family must be politically unbiased. It is the duty of the Queen - who heads up the royal family - to remain 'strictly neutral with respect to political matters', according to the official website, meaning she is 'unable to vote or stand for election'. While this is not formally extended to the rest of the royal family, it is something they, too, typically honour.

Meghan is famously outspoken about issues she cares about. And while the Black Lives Matter movement is absolutely a social one, indeed, a human rights one - it's also an issue that is political because of the change it requires at the top and on a systemic level, as well as from a human-to-human level. It may perhaps feel freeing, then, that it's something she is able to share her thoughts on now, publicly.

'I am sorry that we haven't gotten the world to a place where you deserve it to be,' the duchess poignantly told the graduating students

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