King Charles Visit Left Kenyan Journalists Feeling 'Degraded'

King Charles III's tour of Kenya left some local reporters feeling "mistreated" and "degraded in their own country," a Kenyan journalist said.

Mwangi Maina, who covers diplomacy for The Standard and has a show on TV station KTN, described how the British High Commission appeared to "segregate journalists based on their nationality and colour."

During a lengthy thread on X, formerly Twitter, he said two buses were set aside for U.K. traveling media, with one for Kenyan journalists. He also suggested the Brits were given better food.

The comments come after colonialism was a key theme of Charles' visit, including a speech in which he acknowledged "the wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret."

The British administration in Kenya was blamed for the brutal suppression of the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s in which 90,000 Kenyans were either executed, tortured or maimed. The official death toll was 10,000.

In a post viewed almost 800,000 times, Maina wrote on X: "Multiple #Kenyan based journalists have raised concern's about racial undertones during the @RoyalFamily visit. Those who I have spoken to say they were mistreated and felt degraded in their own country. A sovereign country, so to say."

"I will headline it as Segregated Press Buses, Stale Sandwiches & Used Toothpicks: Behind the Scenes of a Well-Choreographed but Tone-Deaf Royal Visit to #Kenya.

"Journalists have complained of being segregated from their British counterparts during pool transportation and not receiving proper meals, despite Kenyan taxpayers partly funding this high-level visit.

"Organisers, @UKinKenya allegedly separated local journos from Kenya & the UK drawing criticism and claims of racial discrimination."

"The Britons received preferential treatment during meal time, despite the Kenyan and UK state teams agreeing on distribution of food equally," he added. "The issue is not about food or water but contempt.

"In one incident, some Kenyan-based journalists were not provided lunch, only to be offered a few leftover food boxes later. Upon opening, they discovered stale sandwiches, unwrapped cupcake papers, and used toothpicks. This was and is disgusting!"

Elsewhere, Queen Camilla was accused during the touring of looking awkward while dancing with Masai women and the royals were described as out of touch over a red carpet moment.

In Nairobi, on October 31, King Charles told a state banquet: "It is the intimacy of our shared history that has brought our people together. However, we must also acknowledge the most painful times of our long and complex relationship.

"The wrongdoings of the past are a cause of the greatest sorrow and the deepest regret. There were abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence committed against Kenyans as they waged, as you said at the United Nations, a painful struggle for independence and sovereignty—and for that, there can be no excuse.

"In coming back to Kenya, it matters greatly to me that I should deepen my own understanding of these wrongs, and that I meet some of those whose lives and communities were so grievously affected.

"None of this can change the past. But by addressing our history with honesty and openness we can, perhaps, demonstrate the strength of our friendship today. And, in so doing, we can, I hope, continue to build an ever-closer bond for the years ahead."

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

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