UK Law Enforcement Personnel Confess to Sharing Racially Offensive Messages Regarding Meghan

Five retired police officers from London confessed on Thursday to sharing highly offensive and racist messages among themselves on WhatsApp. These messages included derogatory references to Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and other members of the royal family.

These individuals, all in their 60s, faced charges following an investigation by the BBC’s Newsnight program. The investigation revealed that they had exchanged these messages between August 2018 and September 2022, a period when they were no longer in active police service.

Among these messages, three contained racist remarks about Meghan, who is the wife of Prince Harry, the younger son of King Charles. Meghan’s background is noteworthy as her mother is Black and her father is white.

One of the offensive messages also included a picture of the late Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, while others made derogatory references to Prince William, Kate, and Rishi Sunak, who was Britain’s first prime minister of color.

During a court hearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, these former officers pleaded guilty to sending offensive messages.

Commander James Harman, who leads the Metropolitan Police’s Anti-Corruption and Abuse Command, commented on the case, saying, “The racist and discriminatory content of these messages is absolutely appalling. Considering that the defendants were once serving as police officers, we acknowledge that this case may further erode trust in the police force.”

The London police force has faced a series of scandals in recent years, and an independent review in March concluded that it exhibited institutional racism, misogyny, and homophobia. The new chief of the force, Mark Rowley, has pledged to weed out unfit individuals among its more than 43,000 officers and staff.

All five of these individuals had worked in various departments within the police force but had also served in the Diplomatic Protection Group. In the past year, this group has seen one former member convicted of murder and rape and another sentenced for committing 24 rapes and numerous other sexual offenses over a span of two decades.