The Construction of Meghan Markle’s Identity as a Biracial Woman in Media Reports

The construction of Meghan Markle’s identity as a biracial woman can be represented through the reports on the British royal wedding in 2018 in some UK and US media outlets. However, the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle became a controversy since Harry was the only royal family member to marry a mixed-race woman. Media outlets around the world reporting on their marriage mostly focused on Meghan’s racial identity. This research focuses on how and why race relations became commonly highlighted issue in the media coverage, especially they relate to racial identity. The significance of this research is to provide a critical perspective toward a globally known cultural event. The theory of modern racism proposed by Caliendo and McIlwain (2015) [1] and Paltridge’s (2006) [2] critical discourse analysis and framing serve as the framework for this research. Furthermore, since some media outlets in the UK and the US are dominated by white people who want to maintain their existence, there is ambivalence in the media regarding her presence and whether she presents a new image of the British royal family or is a biracial woman who does not significantly impact how biracial people are represented in the media. Keywords—Biracial identity, African-American, British