A lawyer has been cleared after being the center of an investigation after she wrote a racially insensitive tweet about Meghan Markle Y prince harry is Diana Lilibet Name. Joanna Toch, a family law attorney, was investigated by a regulator before she was acquitted and is now speaking out about her experience.
Meghan Markle, the controversial decision of the name of Prince Harry
In June 2021, shortly after the news broke that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had welcomed their second child, a girl they named Lilibet Diana. The name has a particular meaning for Harry, as “Lilibet” was a childhood nickname of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, while “Diana”, of course, is the name of his late mother.
When the name was unveiled, there was a wave of backlash from some royal observers who believed it was rude for the Sussexes to name their daughter after the queen’s personal nickname. Some even insisted that the royal duo had only chosen those names as a way to ingratiate themselves with the rest of the royal family.
In the midst of this wave of reactionary reaction, a collaborator of The daily telegraph Julie Burchill tweeted: “What a missed opportunity. They could have called her Georgina Floydina!” For context, the year before, a man named George Floyd was killed by police officers after they knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. The reason for his arrest by the police was an allegedly counterfeit $20 bill. He left behind five children, including a six-year-old daughter, and two grandchildren.
‘Don’t black names matter?’
Joanna Toch commented on the thread, writing: “Not Doria? Black names don’t matter? The tweet was apparently referencing Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement, which was heavily involved in the national protests that erupted after the killing of George Floyd. As a result of the tweet, Toch was briefly suspended from her law firm and was the subject of 83 complaints to the Bar Standards Board (BSB).
At the time, Toch’s firm, Family Law Cafe Limited, issued a statement regarding the suspension, stating that an internal investigation was underway, and added: “FLC regards your comments as offensive, unacceptable and highly contradictory to the inclusive manner in which the that FLC always has and will continue to work with members of all communities in managing the challenges of marriage and family disputes.”
Reinstated after controversy
The suspension was eventually lifted and the BSB dropped the accusations against him. In a sentence obtained by news weekToch said: “My tweets were misunderstood, perhaps deliberately by some, and I was publicly vilified with threats against me and my family.”
The statement continued: “The furor was sparked by those who should have known better in my opinion. The Family Law Bar Association and the Bar Council issued rash comments without speaking to me to see what my version of events was. This entire episode shows how a few people can decide what they think something means and bypass any attempt to clarify or use due process.”
Toch concluded, “I am sorry that those who work with me have also had to deal with unpleasant bullying behavior. I continue to support British tolerance and the rule of law and always will. I knew that all the nonsense that was said about me had no truth and I did not read it at the time. We wonder what Prince Harry and Meghan Markle think of all the fuss.
More real stories of Suggest
Royal commentator claims Harry and Meghan would have been a better choice for Caribbean tour than Kate Middleton, Prince William
Megyn Kelly compares Will Smith to Meghan Markle, calls them ‘out-of-touch complainers’
What Prince William and Prince Harry Really Feel About Camilla Parker Bowles