The day Prince William’s godmother got embroiled in a racism row: Two years ago today Lady Susan Hussey was accused of asking a black British woman ‘Where are you really from?’ – causing a storm that threatened to engulf the entire Royal Family…

The Royal Family were still reeling from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell claim about Archie’s skin colour in their March 2021 interview with Oprah when another racism row threatened to engulf them.

But this time it did not come from the usual suspects of the disillusioned prince or his fame-hungry American bride, it came from a staunch Palace loyalist – Lady Susan Hussey.

Up until that point the noblewoman was regarded as a safe pair of hands, who had risen to become one of the most trusted figures in the royal household after she entered service in 1960.

She became Prince William’s godmother and was one of the late Queen’s most important advisors, carrying out tasks such as introducing Princess Diana and Meghan to royal life when they joined The Firm.

Lady Hussey was also not scared to speak her mind. According to royal author Tom Bower, she prophetically warned a group of theatre directors in the lead up to Harry and Meghan’s 2018 wedding: ‘This will all end in tears, mark my words’.

But on December 1, 2022, the 83-year-old’s entire professional career seemed to be over, after she was accused of asking a black British charity boss Ngozi Fulani where she was ‘really from’ at an event in Buckingham Palace a total of seven times.

Ms Fulani, who had previously claimed ‘Meghan is a survivor of domestic violence from her in-laws’, took to Twitter to express her outrage and the incident quickly became a major news story around the world.

Here MailOnline looks back at the racism controversy which reportedly caused Prince William to ‘furiously’ ask why his godmother was there in the first place…

The row began when Lady Hussey was outed in a series of tweets by Ngozi Fulani that were acutely embarrassing for the Royal Family. 

Ms Fulani said on Twitter that she had been ‘insulted’ by her when she was accused of asking ‘where she was really from’ when she said ‘Hackney’.

The royal aide then allegedly said: ‘No but where do you really come from? Where do your people come from? When did you first come here?’

Ms Fulani claims she then said: ‘Lady! I am a British national, my parents came here in the 50s, to which the woman replied: ‘I knew we’d get there in the end. You’re Caribbean’. 

Ms Fulani replied: ‘No lady, I am of African heritage, Caribbean descent and British nationality’.

The founder of Sistah Space, a charity against domestic violence, said the morning after: ‘Mixed feelings about yesterday’s visit to Buckingham Palace. Ten mins after arriving, a member of staff approached me, moved my hair to see my name badge. The rest of the event is a blur’.

She said: ‘It was such a shock to me and the other two women that we were stunned to temporary silence. I just stood at the edge of the room, smiled and engaged briefly with who spoke to me until I could leave.

‘Standing there in a room packed with people while this violation was taking place was so strange, especially as the event was about violence against women’.

She added: ‘My children and grandchildren were proud though, in my parent’s time, black people were only allowed in to those spaces to serve. Kind of glad my folks were not around to witness this violation.

‘I let my guard down. Never again. It was such a struggle to stay in a space that you were violated in.

‘I think it is essential to acknowledge that trauma has occurred and being invited and then insulted has caused much damage’.

She later told The Mirror: ‘It was prolonged racism. It was like an interrogation. This wasn’t just a few seconds, it was concerted over several minutes. It felt, as three black women, that we were trespassers, that we were not welcome or accepted as British’.

Following the race row, Ms Fulani said her family had been under ‘immense pressure’ since the exchange.

The topic had split the general public. Some people were sympathetic to Lady Hussey’s age and long service, feeling Ms Fulani had been looking to take offence.

Royal biographer William Shawcross claimed Lady Hussey was the victim of a ‘remorseless, cruel, blame culture’ due to ‘fear of the mob’.

But others were on her side, claiming the incident highlighted a Royal Family that was dangerously out of touch. 

In the ensuing media storm it looked like the end of Lady Hussey’s six-decade-long career at the Palace. 

The noblewoman is the youngest daughter of the 12th Earl of Waldegrave and the widow of Marmaduke Hussey, former chairman of the BBC who passed away in 2006. 

During her time at the Palace she was reportedly nicknamed the ‘Number One Head Girl’ as she continued to provide support to the Queen. 

She was one of the few people allowed to accompany the late monarch to the funeral of her husband, Prince Philip. It is thought the Queen personally asked Lady Susan to sit with her on the way to St George’s Chapel for the scaled-back service, according to The Mirror. 

Her role was so significant over the years that she even earned herself a brief portrayal in Netflix’s The Crown.

But following the mistake, the Palace, run by King Charles, and Kensington Palace, run by Prince William, seemingly wanted to take different approaches to deal with it.

Buckingham Palace said it took the situation ‘extremely seriously’, adding Lady Susan Hussey had offered a ‘profound apology’ for her words and ‘stepped aside’.

But William told his team that he ‘needed to distance himself’ from the incident swiftly, according to the book Endgame by Omid Scobie.

A source reportedly told the Sussex-sympathetic author that it was felt the whole issue could have been easily avoided and that William had demanded to know how it had happened.

‘Why was she there in the first place?’ William had asked, according to the book. 

At the time, a Kensington Palace spokesman said of the incident: ‘This is a matter for Buckingham Palace but as the Prince of Wales’s spokesperson I appreciate you’re all here and understand you’ll want to ask about it. So let me address it head on.

‘I was really disappointed to hear about the guests’ experience at Buckingham Palace last night.

‘Obviously, I wasn’t there, but racism has no place in our society. The comments were unacceptable, and it is right that individual has stepped aside with immediate effect.’

In his book, Scobie described the statement as a ‘swift rebuke’, which he says was a contrast to that of the Palace.

The royal author writes that the move shows the heir to the throne is able to take ‘decisive action’ independent of the Palace.

However, Scobie claims his actions did not go down well with his father and he was criticised for not thinking as part of a ‘team’.

A palace source reportedly said the statement was a ‘rash’ and ‘knee-jerk response’.

Following the incident Scobie was quick to pick up on the claims about racism at the Palace, tweeting: ‘Yesterday’s event should have been a moment to uplift and support. The fact that Fulani — a prominent figure providing the only safe space in Britain for black survivors of domestic violence — was made to feel this way by a senior Palace aide is unforgivable’.

Ms Fulani has been a firm supporter of Meghan and Harry herself, even making the startling claim last year that the Duchess was a victim of ‘domestic violence’ from other members of the Royal Family.

She made the claim in March 2021, just after Piers Morgan resigned from Good Morning Britain, having said he did not believe Meghan’s claims about her requests for mental health treatment being refused by palace officials.

Ms Fulani tweeted: ‘Our charity supports black women DV survivors. I can’t stay silent about this. I admire Meghan for speaking out. According to clear definition, it seems Meghan is a survivor of DV from her in-laws.’

Ngozi Fulani was warned by her Windrush generation parents to keep her head down as a child growing up in ‘the only black family in the street’ in north London in the 1960s.

‘We were told to avoid conflict with white people as we’d always been in the wrong,’ the campaigner recalled in a newspaper interview as she told how her early experiences of discrimination shaped her.

After various jobs, including teaching drama and African dance and working as a marriage registrar, in 2015 she founded the charity Sistah Space, which works with women and girls of African and Caribbean heritage who are affected by domestic abuse.

Two weeks after their first meeting, on December 16, Lady Hussey and Ms Fulani met at Buckingham Palace, with Hussey offering her apologies in person which were accepted. 

The Palace then released a joint statement afterwards, reporting that the meeting was ‘filled with warmth and understanding’ and that it was appreciated that ‘no malice’ was intended.

Prince Harry also defended Hussey in an interview with ITV in January, saying: ‘Meghan and I love Susan Hussey. [Meghan] thinks she’s great. And I also know that what she meant, she never meant any harm at all.’ 

Nevertheless three months later in March 2023, Ms Fulani said she was temporarily stepping down from her charity role over the backlash she received, claiming Buckingham Palace failed to support her after the incident.

But according to her LinkedIn page she has remained chief executive officer of Sistah Space uninterrupted since 2015.

As for Lady Hussey, she spent a few months on the sideline before she was quietly welcomed back into performing official royal duties in February 2023.

Princess Anne was the royal who made the significant step in showing a public display of support for Lady Hussey when she asked her to represent her at a memorial service in London.

Since then Lady Hussey has continued to carry out her royal duties without incident, with her daughter Lady Katherine Brooke following her mother’s path into royal service by becoming one of Queen Camilla’s ‘companions’.

But the episode will be a reminder to the Royal Family that despite thousands of positive interactions, it only takes one bad one to cause the whole institution to wobble.