Her account of her meeting Lady Susan Hussey, when she was repeatedly asked where she was 'really' from, has reverberated around the world
When Ngozi Fulani walked into Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, she joined a formidable corps of women led by the Queen Consort, gathering to raise awareness about violence against women.
When she walked out, via an “interrogation” she would rather not have had, she found herself in unexpected possession of the power to shake the palace to its core.
Her account of her conversation with Lady Susan Hussey, in which she was repeatedly asked where she was “really” from, has reverberated around the world.
The international outrage has been deeply wounding to an institution already accused of racism by two of its own, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and personally life-changing for the 83-year-old courtier who has resigned in contrition.
The ball, it seems, is now firmly in Ms Fulani’s court.
An activist who has previously said her identity and connection with Africa is her “lifelong story”, there could be no-one better placed to bridge the gulf in understanding between those who consider "where are you really from" the most innocent of small talk to a conversational gambit so offensive it is a “form of abuse”.
In different contexts, she has spoken proudly of her background, using it to help victims of domestic and sexual abuse specifically from African and Caribbean communities.
She founded charity Sistah Space in 2015, with the aim of “ensuring that cultural factors are not only considered but understood”, as “experts on the intersectionality of racism and gender-based violence”.
One of seven children born to parents who emigrated from the Caribbean, Ms Fulani - born Marlene Headley - were the only black family on their Kilburn road and made “very aware” that “even though we were born here, we were not welcome”.
She has described how finding an African dance group was the “day my life changed”.
“A pivotal moment, because it was a connection with Africa and put me in touch with Africans from the continent,” she wrote on the Future Hackney website, which records the life experiences of locals to document social change.
"To hear Africans with strong accents, learn about the food and the drumming touched my heart and took me to a place I had never been.“My connection with Africa became my lifelong story."