Meghan Markle, target of far-right threats. So says Neil Basu, former director of counterterrorism for the Metropolitan Police. In an interview broadcast on Tuesday by the British channel Channel 4, he evokes the “disgusting and very real” threats with which the Duchess of Sussex paid the price for marrying Prince Harry.
“For many years I have spoken publicly about the threat of far-right terrorism in this country. (…) It is the fastest growing threat. When I started counterterrorism in 2015, that represented about 6% of our workload. When I left 14, 16 months ago, it was down to 20%.
Asked about the existence of “serious and credible” threats against Meghan Markle, he answers emphatically: “Absolutely. If you had seen the things that were written, if you had received them, you would feel constantly threatened.”
“We had teams that investigated it, people were prosecuted for these threats,” he added.
An eventful trip to Buckingham
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry shocked the world when they announced in early 2020 their decision to step down from their prominent roles within the British royal family. They have since settled in California, where they are raising their two children, Archie (3 years old) and Lilibet (17 months).
The fierceness of the British press against Meghan Markle and the mediocre reception that the royal family would have given her have often been mentioned to explain this departure. Prince Harry and part of the political class had also denounced the racism of which the Duchess of Sussex, a metis, was a victim.
Magazine Forbes recalls two recent court cases involving Meghan Markle and racist threats: Two British teenagers were sentenced to prison in 2019 for neo-Nazi social media posts calling Prince Harry a ‘race traitor’. A few months ago, two podcasters met in court in London over similar comments.
Source: BFM TV
