The mother of cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has claimed her son was excluded from BBC highlights of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding because he is black.
Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason said she was dismayed to discover her son, who performed at the 2018 ceremony at St George's Chapel in Windsor, was omitted from media coverage.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason made history as the first black winner of the BBC Young Musician competition before his royal wedding performance.
Speaking at the Hay Festival in Wales, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason suggested that the media did not know how to portray a black classical musician.
The mother of cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason has claimed her son was excluded from BBC highlights of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding because he is black.
Getty/BBC
Sheku Kanneh-Mason was personally selected by the Duke of Sussex to perform at the royal wedding after Prince Harry saw him play at a charity event.
Mrs Kanneh-Mason told the Hay Festival audience: "When Sheku played at the royal wedding, that night he was not in any of the BBC highlights.
"So there was the choir, there was the preacher but he was left out as though he hadn't been there.
"The next morning, we looked through all the papers. He was not there.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason was personally selected by the Duke of Sussex to perform at the royal wedding after Prince Harry saw him play at a charity event.
Getty
"So they decided that he was going to be absent. And we thought, what's going on here?"
Mrs Kanneh-Mason explained that she believed the media's decision to exclude her son stemmed from confusion about how to categorise a black classical musician.
She said: "I think what it was: the gospel choir was doing what it was supposed to do.
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"The preacher was doing what he was supposed to do. But a black cellist?
"A black cellist cancels itself out he's not doing what he's supposed to be doing, he's not doing a black thing."
The wedding also featured gospel singers The Kingdom Choir, who performed Stand By Me, and American preacher Rt Rev Michael Curry, whose sermon on the redemptive power of love drew significant attention.
Rt Rev Michael Curry, the first black presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, also received significant media attention for his sermon at the ceremony.
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