Markle reportedly ignored advice to not wear gift earrings
Meghan Markle has been accused of wearing "blood money" earrings gifted by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on two separate official occasions.
Markle wore the earrings -- initially a gift to Queen
Elizabeth -- at a state dinner in Fiji during a royal tour that included Tonga,
Australia and New Zealand in October 2018, just three weeks after Washington
Post writer Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. has accused
the crown prince of ordering Khashoggi’s death.
"Those earrings were bought with blood money and given
to her by a murderer," Michael Eisner, a lawyer fighting for justice for
Khashoggi, said, according to The Daily Mail. "She has no business wearing
them."
The crown prince reportedly gave the chandelier earrings to
the queen as an official wedding gift during a lunch at Buckingham Palace in
March 2018. There is no evidence Markle met him at the time or has met him.
Markle’s lawyers have insisted she wasn’t aware of the Saudi
prince’s connection to the murder at the time, but a source told the Telegraph
she had been advised by aides not to wear the earrings. Also, every article of
clothing and piece of jewelry are generally meticulously picked out for a royal
tour.
The story had been all over the media at the time.
"Members of Royal Household staff sometimes advise
people on their options," a source told The Telegraph. "But what they
choose to do with that advice is a very different matter."
And while it's customary for royals to accept gifts, "Nowhere in the gift policy does it say
you have to wear them," a source told the Daily Mail.
Markle wore the earrings for a second time a month later at
Prince Charles' 70th birthday party at Buckingham Palace.
Prince Harry reportedly looked "shocked" when an
aide approached him at the party about the earrings, according to The
Telegraph.
The Kensington Palace staff told reporters at the time the
earrings had been "borrowed" but did not elaborate, according to The
Telegraph.
Eisner is the chief operating officer of Democracy for the
Arab World Now (DAWN), which was founded by Khashoggi.
"She should inform herself as a member of the Royal
Family of current events and politics and what's going on," Eisner said,
according to the Daily Mail. He noted she had been photogrpahed two years
before alongside a Saudi women's rights activist. "It's baffling that she
would not know the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi's murder and understand that
MBS had blood on his hands."
Markle has been defended by some over the timing of the
criticism - three years later - and argued her criticism is "racist"
and "sexist" as many politicians have not forcefully spoken out
against the crown prince.
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