French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has once again sparked outrage with their latest cartoon depicting the Queen kneeling on the neck of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, echoing the horrific murder of George Floyd.
The cartoon was published on Saturday and titled (in French) “Why Meghan Quit Buckingham”, with the Duchess of Sussex shown to be saying “Because I couldn’t breathe any more”; a direct link to George Floyd’s final words as he was murdered in Minneapolis in May last year.
Halima Begum, Chief Executive of the UK’s race equality thinktank, The Runnymede Trust, said the cartoon is “wrong on every level”. Amidst a sea of criticism against the controversial publication across social media, she said:
#CharlieHebdo, this is wrong on every level. The Queen as #GeorgeFloyd's murderer crushing Meghan's neck? #Meghan saying she's unable to breathe? This doesnt push boundaries, make anyone laugh or challenge #racism. It demeans the issues & causes offence, across the board. pic.twitter.com/ptNXs8RtuS
— Dr Halima Begum (@Halima_Begum) March 13, 2021
The Daily Express shared the story with the line, “Disgust as Charlie Hebdo depicts Queen kneeling on Meghan Markle’s neck like George Floyd”, whilst The Sun headlined, “Disgusting”.
The cartoon follows the backlash the Royal Family has faced over recent weeks after racial concerns and the treatment of the Duchess of Sussex which was revealed during the notorious interview with Oprah earlier this month (you can read our Contributors’ React here).
Although several accusations were made against Britain’s Royal Family and press, Meghan and Harry did clarify that it was not the Queen nor Prince Philip who commented on the skin tone of their child during her pregnancy with Archie.
The image portrays the Queen in a derogatory light with red eyes and hairy legs, further commenting on the accusations that the Royal Family are ‘institutionally racist’ despite Prince William defending the monarchy earlier this week with his claim that “We’re very much not a racist family.”
Although the weekly cartoon is famous for its secularist satire and controversial commentary on politicians, public figures, and religious symbols, many view Charlie Hebdo as provocative and inconsiderate of serious societal issues.
In 2015, 12 people, including some of the leading cartoonists, were killed as brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi attacked the Paris headquarters after the magazine published offensive cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The French Government continues to defend the publication under the rights of freedom of expression.
Meghna Amin
Featured image courtesy of Charisse Kenion via Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.