Ghostwritten Column on Meghan Markle and Race Sparks Outrage

A column on Meghan Markle arguing that her conflict with the royals was not about racism was ghostwritten on behalf of a Black commentator in a move labeled "appalling" by a social media analyst.

Dominque Samuels, a U.K. commentator and media personality, was bylined on a column in the Daily Mail with the headline: "This clash of the Royals was about culture... NOT colour" that was published two days after Meghan and Prince Harry's Oprah Winfrey interview.

During the CBS tell-all, Meghan said an unnamed royal family member had expressed "concerns" about how dark her unborn child's skin might be before his birth.

The Mail column argued "you cannot offer warm words for the Queen, yet in the same breath claim the institution she heads is racist."

Now Samuels has confirmed on X, formerly Twitter, that the article was ghostwritten for her after stating she had more recently refused to lend her name to another ghostwritten article, about London's Notting Hill Carnival, which she felt was "verging on racist."

Asked whether the Meghan article was also ghostwritten she replied, "Yeah it was," before adding: "It's pretty much standard for newspapers to have ghostwriters for guest columnists, and I thought because I'd never written for them before it would be fine."

Christopher Bouzy, of data analysis firm Bot Sentinel, which has investigated anti-Meghan online communities, told Newsweek that "such actions undermine the integrity of journalism and mislead the public."

Bouzy, who was interviewed in the couple's Harry & Meghan Netflix show, said: "The recent disclosure that an article written in 2021 about Meghan Markle and race was ghostwritten on behalf of a Black woman is appalling."

Samuels' disclosure about the Meghan article was particularly charged because the Sussexes have sued the Mail and its sister title The Mail on Sunday four times in total.

Meghan at one stage described the outlet as the "Daily Fail" and her lawyers argued a story suggesting she was "(almost) straight outta Compton" was intended to be divisive, noting it described "where this (Black) side of her family is said to come from."

Samuels' article read: "There is no doubt that Meghan received some racial abuse from the nastier corners of social media. I was horrified by it myself and felt nothing but sympathy for her.

"Yet everything I have seen suggests that the problem behind the collapsing relations between her and the monarchy lay not with her skin colour but more who she is: an ambitious, proudly independent Californian with very different values from the conservative and often stuffy institution that she found herself in.

"However much the deeply protective Harry had sought to prepare her, what a shock it must have been for this actress and yoga-loving blogger—steeped in the wellness culture of LA and loud about her unbendingly 'woke' views—to find herself in an environment governed not by the cult of the individual, but by tradition, service and duty."

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Meghan and Samuels and the Daily Mail's publishers via email for comment.

In January, Prince Harry said Meghan had not intended to accuse the royals of racism, but rather unconscious bias.

Journalism professor Tim Luckhurst, principal of South College at Durham University in the U.K., told Newsweek he had come across less politically charged instances where ghostwriters were hired during his time as editor of The Scotsman.

He said: "Of course, as a newspaper editor, I came across occasions on which pieces were ghostwritten, but the key to a successful relationship between a writer and a ghostwriter is that the person whose name is on the column should always have seen what was written and approved it.

"I had a famous footballer's wife writing a column for us at The Scotsman and on one occasion I questioned whether the column that had been written was actually true, because it said that the person whose name was on the column had been at a charity event on an occasion when photographs suggested that she and her husband had been elsewhere.

"I got my features editor to check with the ghostwriter and the person whose name was on the column and I remember the ghostwriter had sought to argue it wasn't a matter of whether it was actually true or not, it was a matter of whether or not the columnist was prepared to accept the copy.

"I said, 'I'm very sorry, it's both.' Firstly the person has to take responsibility for it, secondly it must be true, both must apply.

"The simple truth is, if you're going to use a ghostwriter you've got to take responsibility for reading what they say in your name before it's submitted, because if your name is on it you've got to take responsibility for the content."

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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