Mel B is "totally gutted" by Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step down as senior members of the royal family.
The 44-year-old singer has expressed her disappointment at the news that Harry and Meghan will no longer be carrying out their royal duties, as she was "delighted" when the pair tied the knot in May 2018 because it signalled the UK’s stance as a "multicultural nation".
Mel explained: "As a brown woman, I’m totally gutted by Megxit! When Harry met Meghan, I was delighted because I finally a brown girl would be part of the royal family, and it just showed how far our country has come as a multicultural nation. But less than two years after marrying him, they’ve both quit the royal family and the country. I’m totally gutted because the reports say they both felt she had been treated in a racist way."
The Spice Girls star went on to lament the missed "opportunity" for Meghan, 38, to "make a difference" as a member of the royal family, and thinks the former ‘Suits’ actress should have been able to "stick things out".
She continued: "She was in a position to make a difference and now that opportunity is gone. You have to stick things out, no matter how tough they get because that’s the only way you really prove who you are."
But Mel also understands that racism can be difficult to deal with, as she says she received "a ton of racist abuse" during the height of the Spice Girls’ fame.
She said: "I was one of the very first mixed race girls in a British pop band and of course I had to put up with a ton of racist abuse. When I moved into my mansion, I had letters pushed through the door."
The ‘Wannabe’ hitmaker was proud to stand for "all other brown kids in Britain", and thankful she was able to be a role model.
Speaking to OK! magazine, she said: "I’m fully aware that as a mixed race girl in the Spice Girls I stood for all other brown kids in Britain. Even now, so many twenty and thirty-something girls come up to me and tell me what a big deal it was for them that I proudly wore my hair in a big ‘fro so they felt it was okay for them not to have to straighten their hair, that they could be Mel B in the playground doing Spice Girl dances, that a brown girl with crazy hair was on a stage in a band."
Mel B ‘gutted’ over Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s royal departure
