Princess Charlene Clings to Racist Upbringing

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Online image. Baby Alexandre with his father. Right, with his mum Nicole Coste from Togo.

Princess Charlene, wife of Prince Albert of Monaco was born white in Rhodesia, which is now called Zimbabwe. When Africans reclaimed their land after Independence, her family went next door, to South Africa where being white was still a passport to privilege. 

She grew up in South Africa and embraced her family's values of what black people are and how to treat them. She was into sports which led to world travel. She had a choice: shed her racist upbringing from Rhodesia and South Africa or cling to it. Two decisions she made as an adult demonstrate that she decided to cling to it.   

1. Before her wedding to Prince Albert in 2011, she moved Alexandre Grimaldi Coste, his son with Nicole Coste from Togo, from the main house to the employee wing.

2. She came back from South Africa in November 2021 with a dog named Khan.

Alexandre Grimaldi Coste

Princess Charlene moved Alexandre from the main house, because she grew up in a country where black maids and ‘garden boys’ lived in servants’ quarters, called emakhishini. I visited my mother in these tiny corridors called bedrooms, because she was a domestic servant most of her life. 

Princess Charlene does not regard Alexandre Grimaldi Coste as a son of a prince. She sees him as a black boy who belongs in the servants’ quarters. Princess Charlene is also aware that during apartheid, it was a crime for black and white to marry. Trevor Noah, the bi-racial host of The Daily Show wrote a book, Born A Crime about such laws.

A dog named Khan

Princess Charlene made headlines in November when she returned to Monaco, after a long stay in South Africa. She came back with a dog named Khan.

There are millions of people in India, Pakistan, South Africa and the whole world whose name is Khan. They share many things including religion. They also experienced a crescendo of racism in America, after 9/11. Karan Johar, the Indian producer made a movie about it: My Name is Khan.

Princess Charlene was brought up in South Africa as a white woman and prefers to live her adult life as one. That is why she lives in a bubble, and does not know that you cannot in 2021, name a dog after a whole people, the Khans. They don’t matter to her, because they are black. White people in South Africa and Rhodesia have no qualms about calling their dogs Zulu.

Princess Charlene had a choice, distance herself from her racist upbringing and embrace a humanitarian adult life. She chooses racism.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

 

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