A Royal Pit Stop

EDITOR: The current media blitz surrounding Prince Harry’s Australia tour made my mind go back to the poor excuse of a visit he paid us in SVG during November 2016. It was an insult to our country.

The “trip” did not amount to anything more than a Royal Pit Stop. The Prince was in and out in a flash. He rivaled the lightening speed of his newfound Jamaican friend Usain Bolt. I remember it vividly. It was a beautiful Saturday. The Queen’s grandson arrived in the state late in the morning, and he was long gone by sunset. The Seventh Day Adventists had no chance of catching even a glimpse of him. Harry’s most substantial engagement was a reception at the Cruise Ship Berth which lasted a whopping 45 minutes! He was careful not to have any local food. Our cuisine obviously wasn’t good enough for his sophisticated royal palate. He had all his meals onboard a British vessel docked at Port Kingstown.

What was particularly annoying to me was the way I saw grown men and women in government genuflecting to this spoilt son of imperial privilege and running up and down the country behind him as if they were his water carriers. How demeaning to our sense of dignity and nationhood! The only thing that was left for them to do is bow down and worship him.

Prince Harry was only really passing through SVG. His real destination was Barbados for a date with Rihanna on the occasion of that country’s celebration of its 50th anniversary of Independence.

Harry seemed to be in his element when he was on stage besides Rihanna, despite his relationship with America actress Meghan Markle. I can’t for the life of me see how a country could find it fit and proper to celebrate Independence with a living embodiment of monarchy, slavery and colonialism. That puzzle is too difficult for me to comprehend. Is there a subliminal message hidden somewhere?

On his trip to SVG, Prince Harry effectively gave royal assent to the ban on hunting sea turtles. He seems to be more concerned about turtles than his direct ancestors were about African human beings. Congrats to him.

Harry Blackette