Over the years, Britain’s Royal Family has been in and out of the news, most notably when Princess Diana died and her two sons each got married. Recently, however, they made headlines again for an interview that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave in California to Oprah Winfrey. Darrell Kelley, a popular artist and producer whose talents have created “The Coronavirus” and “Because of You,” was watching as the couple stated that one of the reasons they left England was because Queen Elizabeth had expressed concerns about how dark her unborn grandson’s skin would be. “To be honest, my jaw dropped,” Darrell said. “It was a serious allegation, and I waited for the proof. But when it didn’t come, I was even more shocked. They were accusing the Queen of racism and providing no evidence. I was so upset about this that I felt compelled to write my new song, “Why Lie on the Queen.”
Darrell was skeptical that the Queen had had any concerns over how dark Archie’s skin could be. “I did not think it was appropriate to say this, nor did I think it was true. I believe deeply that if you’re going to say something like this about the queen, or anyone, for that matter, it should be backed up by real proof. If you lie, look at the damage you’re doing to that person. You’re attacking their reputation through sheer gossip. My feelings were so strong that I had to pour them out into my music.”
Darrell’s view of the Royal Family comes from years of watching them. “I know that the Royal Family has a strong public relations department backing them up,” he says, “but I have seen the Queen’s treatment of people of color. It’s been excellent. It’s why I wrote one of the lines of my song: ‘My heart knows you’re not a racist,’” he says. “How could she be? Look at who she has invited to Windsor and Buckingham Palace: Michael Jackson. James Brown. The Obamas. She would never have had dinner with them if she were a racist. Impossible.”
Darrell believes the Queen has demonstrated her excellent character, which does not reflect that of a racist. “Racists do not sit down with those people they are prejudiced against,” he states. “They won’t invite you to be a guest or talk to you. Queen Elizabeth is the opposite of this. She is the epitome of grace and beauty, and I just find it impossible to believe she would have said anything racist about Meghan and Harry’s baby. If there is proof of it, let me see it. I go by what I see, not by what people say.”
Darrell’s song expresses the singer’s deep conviction that the truth always be told. “I am always open to hearing things about people that I might not like,” Darrell says. “In this case, though, in order to believe that the Queen made such crass comments about Archie’s skin color, I need more than an alleged conversation. I need proof. Someone needs to show me the hard-core evidence that she said this, and then I will believe it.”
In the song, Darrell also questions the reason the couple came to America, where there is a strong paparazzi presence. “It doesn’t make sense to me that they’d come here for peace and privacy,” he says. “People are just as nosy here as they are in England. Besides, who goes on international TV if they want their privacy?”
While Darrell wants his song to help the Royal Family as they work to repair their image, he wants his music to accomplish a bigger goal: to remind people to not automatically believe what they tell you even if they are very important role models. “Instead, you need to do your own due diligence and your own studies so that you can clearly see people and world leaders and have your own views on them. If you do, there will be less gossip, and you’ll be standing up as a good person who has excellent character. You’ll be a person of love, acceptance, unity, and love.”
Darrell is thoughtful as he thinks about the song’s message. “It definitely gets out the idea that abuse should not be allowed, especially when there’s no proof of it. We have to stand up for each other. The world is so divided, and we keep attacking each other for no reason. We go to war every day, but we don’t know why.”
Darrell knows that, unfortunately, humanity will always have issues. “We’re never going to be perfect people, of course,” he says, “but I really do think we have the ability – and the responsibility – to do better. The one thing we can all do is learn to have empathy for each other and to stop blindly believing what others say. That alone will make the world better for all of us.”
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