You can’t truly understand the royal race row unless you’ve felt the sting of skin tone bigotry | Georgina Lawton

The row over Omid Scobie's new book has reignited a depressing debate about mixed-race identity, with our voices barely heard

There are a few words and phrases I've muted on X (formerly Twitter) for a while, including: mixed-race, biracial, interracial relationship, and royal race row. But I would have had to have thrown my phone in the sea to avoid part two of the latter, involving Archie's skin tone, Meghan and Harry's unofficial biographer, Omid Scobie, and his new book, Endgame - in which the two royals who apparently commented on Archie's skin colour before he was born were named in the Dutch-language version of the book (which was promptly pulped by the publisher).

I do sympathise - with Archie first and foremost, that is. Before he is even able to talk, his heritage has been loaded with meaning, his very existence described as progressive, transgressive, a step forwards or a step backwards, depending on whom you speak to. Being born into a story over which you have little control is a heavy load to bear. Many people of colour in white spaces and mixed-race" people will relate.

Georgina Lawton is the author of Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong

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