How Do You Solve A Problem Like Meghan Markle?

“I who am the ancestor of Shakespeare, Chaucer and William the Conqueror, I went to London… I was the only Negro there."

Those words come from Adrienne Kennedy's one act play "The Owl Answers." They are spoken by Clara, the daughter of a white American man and a black American woman who is denied and ostracized by the European culture she idolizes. The play explores issues of multi-cultural identity and inclusion - or  more importantly, exclusion.

"If you are my ancestor why are you a Negro, Bastard? What is a Negro doing at the Tower of London, staying at the Queen's House?" Clara's Dead White English Father asks her.

Yes. Just what is black American Meghan Markle doing in Windsor?

Why, going home of course.

Her mother, a black American, likely has at least some roots in Western Africa. Her father's roots though go back to England. He is descended from Captain Christopher Hussey, the great-great-great-grandson of Lord Hussey, who is also one of the English colonists who founded Nantucket in the 1600s. Lord Hussey was beheaded by Henry VIII for treason -  few things can make you more British than that. Furthermore, Markle and Prince Harry may actually be very distant cousins through a shared ancestor: High Sheriff of County Durham Ralph Bowes, born in the late 15th century.

Though the media  have taken to referring to Markle as "bi-racial",  the many, many Americans that have this particular black/white racial makeup are usually referred to as garden variety black Americans or African-Americans. The existence of their European or other heritage is ignored. Unless they look like Markle. With her blush-brown skin,  naturally curly hair, and freckles, attempts to categorize her quickly become like the messy buns she favors. People are confused and feel like a different label is needed for this unusual, yet expected, though some say bastardized, product of England, America and Africa. Just as Clara struggles to get people to recognize and allow her to enjoy her English ancestry and culture, many are trying to figure out what to do with Markle, what she means.

 To some she is an intruder, to others a pretender, and still others an item of exotica entering the palace. To me, she is a black American woman who has traveled back across the pond and seemingly across time to take a place on the royal stage which a version of her may have always had if someone not emigrated to America. For me, she is a powerful (yet delightful and fashionable) symbol of the chickens coming home to roost in the best way  possible. By some karmic force, England, the country that is the poster child for colonialism, slavery and cultural demolition across the world, will now curtsy to its aftermath. Even the fact that she grew up in the Windsor Hills area of Los Angeles only to be married in Windsor Castle in England has magical resonance. This was meant to be. The circle is closed.

So, the clotted cream is bought and the tea selected. The eggs, sausage and toast are ready to go. I will be celebrating under a cozy blanket, watching a black American not only claim a place in history, but her heritage. All of it.