Charles said that he was “so touched” to be asked to undertake the project and has collaborated with a number of prominent public figures on the issue, including contributions from actor Idris Elba, who was a beneficiary of the Prince’s Trust charity in his youth, as well as Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados and Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo.
The news of Charles’ collaboration with The Voice follows increasing calls for members of the royal family to engage in difficult discussions surrounding race and the monarchy’s historic links to slavery.
In June at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda, the prince said that he felt the time has come for the Commonwealth to have these discussions.
The Commonwealth, Charles said, must “acknowledge the wrongs that have shaped our past. Many of those wrongs belong to an earlier age with different and somewhat lesser values. By working together we are building a new and enduring friendship.”
“I cannot describe the depth of my personal sorrow at the personal suffering of so many as I continue to deepen my own understanding of slavery’s enduring impact,” Charles added. “If we are forged with a common future that benefits all our citizens, we too must find ways, new ways, to acknowledge our past. Quite simply, this is a conversation whose time has come.”
Though the prince did not engage so overtly with these topics in The Voice, this has not gone unrecognized. A statement from the editorial team appearing alongside Charles’ editor’s letter praises his work with Britain’s black communities but also adds: “This is not about the monarchy as an institution or the history of colonialism or slavery which he expressed his ‘personal sorrow’ about at the Commonwealth conference earlier this year.
“Whatever the different views, it is important to note the positive work that has taken place to open doors in the arts, business and elsewhere.”
For his part, Charles wrote that he has “always found Britain’s black communities to be a great source of inspiration,” going on to thank them for their support of his charitable endeavors, including the Prince’s Trust, which helps young people start businesses and undertake professional training.
“You have welcomed me into your communities with wonderful enthusiasm and I am grateful that you have always been candid with me about the issues you continually face and how I might help,” Charles said in his editor’s letter.
Also referenced in his letter is the prince’s collaboration with Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the mother of teenager Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in a racially motivated attack at a bus stop in South London in April 1993.
The Voice was a persistent advocate for bringing Lawrence’s killers to justice, something Charles also acknowledges.
“I am, of course, keenly aware of the way in which The Voice has been a key advocate for social justice, such as in the tragic case of Stephen Lawrence,” he said before going on to announce a scholarship in Lawrence’s honor in collaboration with the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation.
The scholarship will provide young people from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to study in the fields of architecture and design.
This is not the first time that the prince or members of the royal family have guest-edited a newspaper or magazine. Most recently the prince’s wife guest-edited Country Life magazine to mark her 75th birthday in July. One of the most notable examples includes Meghan Markle’s September 2019 collaboration with British Vogue, a project on which she worked closely on with editor Edward Enninful.
The prince’s collaboration with The Voice, a newspaper dedicated to chronicling the obstacles faced by the black community in Britain, comes as his daughter-in-law Meghan recently spoke out about her own experience in the country.
On the second episode of her podcast Archetypes, Meghan said that she never felt that she was treated as a “black woman” until she started dating Prince Harry in the U.K.
“I think for us it’s so different because we’re light-skinned,” she said in a conversation with singer Mariah Carey.
“You’re not treated as a black woman, you’re not treated as a white woman. You sort of fit in between.
“If there’s any time in my life that it’s been more focused on my race it’s only once I started dating my husband.
“Then I started to understand what it was like to be treated like a Black woman because up until then I had been treated like a mixed women. And things really shifted.”
Both Meghan and Harry have spoken about the racism faced by the duchess on social media and in the press while living in the U.K. Harry told Oprah Winfrey it was an issue that contributed to his desire to leave Britain and move to the U.S. with his family.
The Voice’s fortieth-anniversary edition is available in Britain starting on September 1.
