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Black Charlotte Sophia Of Mecklenburg Was Before Black Megan Markle
miracle was wrought when the news media websites and social media sites didn’t crash when news of Prince Harry (5th in line to the British throne) and African American actress Meghan Markle’s engage- ment was announced, last week. Not unexpected, hate mongers and “quiet” racists responded disparagingly to
the news.
In fact, London news
media described the re- sponse as having “high- lighted the racism and class snobbery that persist in British society.”
One source was quoted as saying “The American will become the first person who identifies as biracial to join the upper echelons of the United Kingdom’s royal fam- ily when she marries Harry in May.”
That statement is only half-true, however, because Charlotte, of Mecklenburg Strelitz (aka Charlotte Sophia) was actually the first known person of African ancestry to join the royal family in 1761.
Charlotte Sophia was born in North Germany in 1744 to Princess Elizabeth Albertine, of Saxe- Hild- burghausen and Duke Charles Louis Frederick, of Mecklenburg, Prince of Mirow. However, Sophia
was a descendant of the Van- dals, an East German tribe that invaded North Africa during the 5th century. Be- cause of an arranged mar- riage, Charlotte Sophia, at the age of 17, became the wife of King George, III in 1761, making her the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland until the union of two king- doms in 1801.
Then Sophia became the Queen of the United King- dom and Ireland. Agreeing with a decision of King George, III, and Char- lotte Sophia did not inter- fere in the politics of the royalty and became the mother of 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood.
Several British writers and an English art historian, Brunold Springer, Baron Stockmar and Horace Walpole described Char- lotte Sophia as “ugly,” “small and thin,” “dark com- plexion,” and as having “broad nostrils,” heavy lips of the blonde Negroid type,” and “nostrils spreading too wide.” . . Mouth has the same fault.”
Pictures of Charlotte Sophia’s portrait may be found in the Gallery in Lon- don; a book by A. V. Green- wood, titled “Queens of England, Volume II,” frontispiece, London 1909; and pictures of her portrait
by Allan Ramsay, a Scot- tish portrait painter. These portraits show prominent “Negroid” and “mulatto” fea- tures – crinkly hair and tan skin.
Indeed, Charlotte Sophia’s ancestry could have been inherited twice by unions of the male hierarchy first by Madragana (1230) and King Alfonso of Portu- gal, and secondly by Mar- garita de Castro de Sousa (1440) who wed Jean de Neufchatel (Lord of Montagu and Fontenoy (1440 – 1489).
Margarita was a 15th century Portuguese noble- woman. Even though Char- lotte Sophia’s ancestry has been disputed, several sources – Sex and Race, and 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro by histo- rian J. A. Rogers; PBS TV Magazine, Wikipedia, African American Reg- istry and News One con- firm Charlotte’s ancestry...
Though not highly edu- cated, Charlotte Sophia became a patron of the arts, a novice botanist, and helped found Kew Gardens, a lead- ing institution in plant biol- ogy.
King George, III suf- fered bouts of physical and mental illnesses, but sup- ported Charlotte Sophia’s charitable work.
In fact, Charlotte, North Carolina is named in her honor. Indeed, for those who contest Charlotte Soph- ia’s ancestry, a simple DNA test of the royal family mem- bers would prove or disprove the presence of African an- cestors in the current royal family.
Until then, I am satisfied that Charlotte Sophia is Queen Elizabeth’s great, great, great grandmother of color (“God Save The Queen”)!
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Church Power Can Change Gun Laws
e offer condolences to the families and friends
of all churchgoers who have been cut down dur- ing church services.
Bibles, hymnals, and prayers are no match for assault rifles and pistols with high capacity magazines wielded by deranged or vengeful shooters, unless you’re using them to throw at the shooters.
In light of the growing number of gun attacks on church worshippers here in America, many houses of faith have increased their security and vigilance during worship services and other activities. So, must churches dig deeper for salvation and safety?
Indeed, certain churches and mosques have hired off-duty police officers, installed cameras, posted addi- tional ushers at doors, patrolled their grounds and parking lots, and stationed security at their outer doors. In fact, one local large membership church con- gregation has posted warning signs outside to let every- one intent on harming its members, that the church is “heavily armed” and will use deadly force “to protect its members”, should such be necessary . . . (Amen!).
Yes, times even in God’s sanctuaries have secularly come to that. In response, many pastors have realized that though “faith without works is dead (James 2: 14- 26), “faith without works” at a church can be deadly. Referred to as “soft targets,” churches are usually filled with people and, shooters preyed on churchgoers be- cause there was little chance that gun owners would be in attendance at church.
Now shooters should beware. In fact, elected offi- cials should beware of churchgoing voters in future elections since 30 percent of American voters are churchgoers and vote in growing numbers.
The time for no gun control has passed, just as the time for churchgoers as shooting victims has also passed. Amen? A-men!
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