Meghan Markle backed Black Lives Matter in a video message that went viral on TikTok as King Charles III faces calls to condemn anti-immigration rioters.
The Duchess of Sussex spoke out at a time when there were widespread anti-police protests of the murder of George Floyd by white police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis in May 2020.
Meghan gave a speech to graduates at her old high school, Immaculate Heart, in which she invoked her own childhood experiences of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which followed police brutality directed against Rodney King.
Her call for action went newly viral as King Charles III has been under pressure in Britain to condemn violence at anti-immigration protests in towns and cities across the United Kingdom, which have seen shops, police and pedestrians attacked.
Meghan said: "As we've all seen over the last week, in our country and in our state and in our hometown of L.A. has been absolutely devastating.
"And I wasn't sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing, and I was really nervous that I wouldn't or that it would get picked apart, and I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing.
"Because 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 did so many other people whose names we know and whose names we do not know.
"Stephon Clark, his life mattered."
The clip was liked more than 6,000 times and viewed more than 200,000 times after it was posted by TikTok user @harry.nd.meghan with the message: "Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex knows how to address a crisis with class. The royal family could take some notes."
In August, the U.K. was subject to a series of anti-immigration protests that descended into rioting with attacks on police and Muslim-owned businesses.
The unrest came after three girls died following stabbings at a Taylor Swift-themed party in Southport on July 29. Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, was charged with their murders as well as 10 counts of attempted murder.
The British government expressed its support for police officers sent to deal with the rioting, but the royals have not commented so far, creating pressure on the king.
Afua Hagan, a U.K.-based royal expert, told Newsweek, "The king hasn't said anything about it, he hasn't mentioned it.
"If you're the head of state of a country where your own citizens are being treated so awfully when you stood up at your coronation and said you were going to be the defender of all faiths and had all faiths involved in that coronation and you're also deemed to be the head of the Commonwealth whilst the Commonwealth actually aren't white, you need to sort it out."
Hagan said the king might be uniquely placed to take a stand on the rioters
"These guys, they claim to be patriots, they claim to be for king and country, and they're all there raising their Union Jacks," she said.
"If the royal family or the monarch came out and said 'this is not what patriotism is about actually,' I think that would be quite powerful."
Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
