- Ngozi Fulani said she faced racist questioning by a royal staffer while at Buckingham Palace.
- The incident reportedly took place during an event at the palace on Tuesday.
Buckingham Palace has an "institutional racism" issue, according to the Black charity worker who said she was subjected to relentless questioning about her heritage by a royal staffer at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
Ngozi Fulani, the founder of domestic violence charity Sistah Space, was one of the guests invited to the palace for an event overseen by Camilla, Queen Consort, calling for the end of violence against women. During the course of the event, Fulani tweeted that she was asked by a member of the royal staff whom she identified as "Lady SH" where she "really came from."
On Wednesday, Buckingham Palace confirmed that the "unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments" were made and that the staff member had resigned from their honorary role.
Mandu Reid, leader of the UK Women's Equality Party, told BBC News she witnessed the "offensive, racist and unwelcoming" questioning Fulani received and identified Lady Susan Hussey as the person who made the comments. Hussey was a lady-in-waiting of the late Queen Elizabeth II and went on to serve Camilla before handing in her resignation, Insider's Mikhaila Friel reports.
But Fulani is calling for further action and said the comments were just one example of an "institutional racism" issue the palace has.
—Sistah Space (@Sistah_Space) November 30, 2022
Speaking to The Independent's Nadine White, she said the experience she had is "bigger than one individual. It's institutional racism."
"This incident is unfortunate and shows that nothing has changed," Fulani added. "As a Black person, I found myself in this place where I wanted to say something but what happened would automatically be seen as my fault, it would bring Sistah Space down. It would be 'oh, she has a chip on their shoulder.'"
She also said she would be willing to have her charity oversee anti-racism training at Buckingham Palace to ensure diversity and inclusion policies were being upheld. "It is that very training that got us the invitation in the first place. It is ironic, therefore, that the thing that we're fighting to end was targeted at me," she said.
In another interview on BBC's Radio 4, Fulani again highlighted the irony of the incident occurring during an event held to bring attention to violence against women.
"I have to really question how this can happen in a space that's supposed to protect women against all kinds of violence," she said. "Although it's not physical violence — it is an abuse."
Buckingham Palace and representatives for Ngozi Fulani did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.