The video which was first posted by creator Amanda Matta to her TikTok account @matta_of_fact in December 2021 has been reposted to Twitter by user @libsoftiktok and gone viral with over 120,000 views sparking a debate between commenters.
The subject of race has been a key issue discussed regarding Meghan and her treatment as a member of the royal family as she is the first person of mixed race to marry into the senior branch of the British monarchy.
It is unusual for the Twitter account @libsoftiktok to engage with royal content, as the account generally focuses on conservative U.S. talking points. However, the re-posting of @matta_of_fact’s video has generated a lengthy discussion among its followers.
The video features Matta responding to a question left by a commenter on an earlier video in which she was comparing evening dresses worn by Kate and Meghan to gala events.
The question posted said of the royal sisters-in-law: “I feel Kate just has something very regal about her.”
Matta’s response focussed on the connotations of the word “regal” and how society’s image of a princess does not yet include people who look like Meghan.
“Yeah, that’s her whiteness,” she begins answering the question.
“That thing that you can’t quite put your finger on that Kate has that Meghan doesn’t—you’re talking about her white skin,” she said. “Sometimes commenters will dress this up as ‘Kate has class, Meghan doesn’t’ or ‘Kate is genuine and Meghan isn’t,’ but we didn’t all sit down and have a conversation with Meghan and then with Kate and collectively come to that conclusion.”
“No, we are parroting things that are relayed to us by the press and for the press, this comment [referring to the “regal” question] has always meant; ‘Kate looks like what I think a princess should look like and Meghan doesn’t,” Matta continued.
She then concludes the video by saying: “I’m not saying that commenting things like this makes you a racist, but comments like this are rooted in racism. That’s all.”
On the impetus behind making the video, Matta told Newsweek:
“Of course, not everyone who expresses a ‘preference’ for the Duchess of Cambridge over the Duchess of Sussex is a racist. But dog whistles do exist, and they have always been employed to enable people to say what they think about Meghan Markle without actually saying it.”
“Saying something about her ‘attitude’ or her ’lack of class’ are often not-so-sneaky ways for a person to say that they find fault with the Duchess of Sussex either because of the color of her skin or where she was born,” Matta said. “And often, they make sure to add a note about how much they prefer Catherine, who represents ‘a real English beauty’ or someone with ’true class.’ That’s when, for me, it becomes clear that it’s about something more insidious than simply expressing a preference.”
In her opinion, Matta concludes that in 2022, “even if a person does not think that they are being ‘racist’ when it comes to the Duchess of Sussex, they often say things like ‘There’s just something about her that I don’t like’.”
“They might pinpoint that as her being less ‘regal’ or less ‘genuine,’ but in my opinion, it all comes from the same place: the fact that Meghan has been treated as an outsider not just because of her nationality, but because of the color of her skin,” Matta said.
The points made in the video response when uploaded by @libsoftiktok and @matta_of_fact were divided.
“No no, it’s not a race thing. it’s a nationality thing. Americans just aren’t regal,” one Twtter user responded with another saying: “Let it be noted that Kate Middleton outranks Meghan Markle. Skin color has nothing to do with it. Get over it.”
On TikTok, users also disputed that racism played a part in the comparison between Meghan and Kate but many offered support for the idea and praised the video’s discourse.
“Yep we constantly hear “there’s something about Megan I don’t like” or “something about her rubs me the wrong way,” wrote one user.
“Agree but also I think the way Kate is more subdued and quiet- the media favors this submission,” posted another.
One Twitter commenter went on to claim that by defining regal the attribution fitted Kate because she is an active working member of the royal family while Meghan stepped down from her role with Harry in 2020: “by the definition of regal, yes she is. Meghan isn’t even part of the royal family anymore..”
For her part, Meghan addressed the comparisons between herself and sister-in-law Kate during her landmark 2021 interview with Winfrey.
Discussing a period during her time in the U.K. where Meghan was faced with an onslaught of negative press while Kate did not seem to face the same scrutiny, Meghan sent a message to supporters saying that liking one did not mean you had to dislike the other.
“I think so much of what I have seen play out is this idea of polarity,” she said, “if you love me, you don’t have to hate her. And if you love her, you don’t need to hate me.”
