J’can academics dismiss criticism of Harry’s visit
Published:Friday | January 26, 2024 | 4:05 PMLivern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter
Criticisms in the British media of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle “hobnobbing” with Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Tuesday are “absolutely ridiculous”, one local cultural expert has opined.
The exiled Duke and Duchess of Sussex shared lens time with Holness, members of his administration, as well as local and international celebrities during the global premiere of the film Bob Marley: One Love in the Jamaican capital.
The backlash in the British media was swift, with MailOnline labelling Harry as “insensitive” for posing with Jamaica’s “anti-royalist” prime minister.
The “anti-royalist” label was a reference to Holness’ message to Harry’s brother, Prince William, during a 2022 tour of the Caribbean that Jamaica is “moving on” from its current system of government with the King as head of state, replacing it as a republican system of government.
Another British commentator described Harry and Meghan’s visit to Jamaica as “tone deaf” coming “the very week” King Charles was hospitalised with an undisclosed illness and given the stated intention of the Holness administration.
“There they are in Jamaica, which is a country that is bordering on republicanism. The prime minister of Jamaica has made it absolutely clear he wants nothing to do with the monarchy. He thinks it’s past its sell-by date,” said one commentator.
“His [King Charles] own son, who hasn’t found time yet to ... send his best wishes ... is there consorting and hobnobbing with one of the most overtly republican prime ministers in the Caribbean,” he continued.
“Somebody, who I also understand, wants to break up the Commonwealth, which was so precious to the Queen ... and here he [Harry] is now consorting with somebody who wants to destroy it. They’re tone deaf.”
However, Jamaican academic Professor Carolyn Cooper fired back yesterday, declaring that criticism of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex because of Jamaica’s push to become a republic is “absolutely ridiculous”.
“Hospitality to a visitor should not be confused with ambivalence about disengaging from the Monarchy,” said Cooper, a respected literary scholar.
“In any case, mi nuh think seh dem did fling Prince Harry out a di Royal Family? So what is the issue? I don’t see a problem there at all.”
Dr Maziki Thame, senior lecturer at the Institute of Gender and Development Studies at The University of the West Indies, came to Holness’ defence, saying she sees no evidence that the Jamaican head of government is “anti-royal”.
Further, she said the article published by MailOnline “delegitimises our claim to what some would call full decolonisation”.
“This is not a moment in which Jamaican politics is, in any way, anti-imperialist. They are self-interested. Ghey take it for granted that their royalty should matter to us,” Thame told The Gleaner yesterday.
She said concerns about the perceived icy reception for Prince William in 2022 compared to the warm reception for Prince Harry on Tuesday “reflects the contradictory nature of our politics”.
“In one moment you are putting the soon-to-be-King on notice, and in the other you ... can also support Israel. You also, in your foreign policy, support the US [United States] in their attempts at destabilising politics in the region, in Venezuela for instance, and in support of military intervention in Haiti.”
For Cooper, Prince William “deserved the reception he got”.
She noted that Prince Harry was in Jamaica on a personal visit to celebrate an iconic Jamaican while his older brother was on an official visit representing the Royal Family.
“They [Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton] were acting in a way that was reinforcing old colonialist norms. Greeting people through the fence ... their symbolism was all wrong,” said Cooper.
Harry just came to lyme. He had no mission to try to persuade us to remain part of the old colonial set-up, she added.
“It’s two completely different scenarios.”