London, Jan 15: The leader of Britain’s anti-European Union UKIP Party said he had split with his new girlfriend after a newspaper published derogatory comments she made about Prince Harry’s fiancee Meghan Markle and black people.
Henry Bolton, 54, who became the ailing UK Independence Party’s fourth leader in a year when he was elected last September, said he had ended his relationship with model Jo Marney after the “appalling” text messages she sent to a friend were published. Marney, 25, who began dating Bolton just after Christmas, had described US actress Markle, whose father is white and mother is African-American, as a “dumb little commoner” and said “her seed with (sic) taint our royal family”, according to the texts printed in the Mail Sunday newspaper. Marney also described black people as ugly. “The romantic element of the relationship is over,” Bolton told BBC radio. “However appalling and insulting those comments she made in those direct personal messages were … I honestly don’t believe those are her core beliefs.” Prince Harry said Markle had been subjected to “outright sexism and racism” on social media when he revealed they were first dating in 2016 and that there had also been racial undertones in newspaper comment pieces. The couple announced in November that they were engaged and will marry in May.
Reuters
