Prince William’s ‘Furious’ Response to Racism Scandal Revealed

Prince William “was fast to denounce” his godmother over a racism scandal at a Buckingham Palace event and asked: “Why was she there in the first place,” an explosive new book says.

Lady Susan Hussey stepped aside from her role at the palace after repeatedly asking a Black charity boss, Ngozi Fulani, of Sistah Space, where she was “really from,” having already been told she was British.

The scandal blew up at the start of William’s 2021 tour of Boston, where he took his Earthshot Prize ceremony, and led to decisive action from the palace, with William’s spokesperson also making clear the comments were unacceptable.

But the move was viewed by one Buckingham Palace source as “rash,” according to new book Endgame, by best selling royal biographer Omid Scobie, author of Finding Freedom.

“Despite the fact that Hussey is his godmother,” Scobie writes. “Prince William was fast to denounce and remove himself from the ugly ordeal.

“Behind the scenes, William was ‘furious’ and told his team that he needed to distance himself quickly.”

A “source in his circle” told Scobie: “There was just this feeling that it could have been easily avoided. [William] asked, ‘Why was she there in the first place?!'”

The story broke on social media where Fulani revealed her difficult experience with a woman she named at the time only as Lady SH.

Mandu Reid, of the Women’s Equality Party, was there during the conversation and at the time told Newsweek: “She was really persistent. None of Ngozi’s answers satisfied her. She wanted to know Ngozi’s nationality.

“She wanted to know where Ngozi’s ‘people’ came from. What is their African origin or whatever. You can be damn sure that a white woman wouldn’t have faced the same line of questioning.”

“The three of us really did feel in that moment like we were somehow intruders,” she said. “We were guests. We were not gatecrashing the event. We didn’t feel welcome in that moment, and it was an event that was supposed to celebrate us, and elevate the importance of this issue.

“I’ve never visited Buckingham Palace before. It’s really big and really grand, and I did have this sense of arriving at what was the Empire.”

Kensington Palace spokesperson Lee Thompson is quoted in Endgame saying: “This is a matter for Buckingham Palace, but as the Prince of Wales’s spokesperson I appreciate [that] you’ll want to ask about it.

“So let me address this head-on: I was really disappointed to hear about the guest’s experience at Buckingham Palace last night.”

“Racism has no place in our society,” he said. “The comments were unacceptable, and it is right that the individual has stepped aside.”

“This was a swift rebuke and a remarkably different PR response to what we’ve come to expect from the Palace.

“William’s decisive action on the matter demonstrates that he is willing to act independently and, added a source, is proof that he is unwilling to dither and defer to Buckingham Palace when a situation demands an immediate, resolute response.

“As the heir to the throne, he’s savvy enough to know these are moments he can leverage to show the public (and the institution) that he’s his own man, and one ready to be king. His father, said sources, didn’t share the same approach.

“‘It was a rash … knee-jerk response,'” a Buckingham Palace source remarked. “The feeling was they wanted to dissociate, instead of thinking as a team.”

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.

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