Through Music, David Kelley Supports Britain’s Royal Family

Darrell Kelley loves to use his music to stand up for causes and people. The talented musical artist and producer has already written hits like “The Coronavirus” and “Because of You” to fight the pandemic and confront the NRA over school shootings. So, when he was outraged over the allegations by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that Queen Elizabeth is a racist, he immediately turned to his music and created a new song, “Why Lie on the Queen,” to defend the monarch and express his feelings.

As most people know by now, the couple asserted that the Queen had had concerns over how dark Archie’s skin could be. “It was a cruel thing to say,” Darrell says, shaking his head. “I was stunned, and I waited for the evidence, but none came. That’s what really got me – they were attacking the Queen’s reputation, but they weren’t backing it up with anything. There was no fairness in this. My feelings about this were so strong that I put them into my music and lyrics.”

Darrell’s view of the Royal Family comes from years of watching them. While he is aware that Buckingham Palace has a strong PR department, he believes the Queen’s character is displayed every time she appears in public and when she invites guests to the palace. “She is an impeccable host. I have also seen her treatment of people of color. It’s been excellent. It’s why I wrote one of the lines of my song: ‘My heart knows you’re not a racist,’” he says. “How could she be? Look at who she has invited to Windsor: Michael Jackson. James Brown. The Obamas. She would never have had dinner with them if she were a racist. Impossible.

“Racists do not sit down with those people they are prejudiced against,” he states. “They won’t invite you to be a guest or talk to you. Queen Elizabeth is the opposite of this. She is the epitome of grace and beauty, and I just find it impossible to believe she would have said anything racist about Meghan and Harry’s baby. If there is proof of it, let me see it. I go by what I see, not by what people say.” 

Darrell’s song expresses the singer’s dislike of hearing allegations that are not backed up with evidence. “I am always open to hearing things about people that I might not like,” Darrell says. “In this case, though, in order to believe that the Queen made such crass comments about Archie’s skin color, I need more than an alleged conversation. I need proof. Someone needs to show me the hard-core evidence that she said this, and then I will believe it.”

In the song, Darrell also questions the reason the couple came to America, where there is a strong paparazzi presence. “They say that they left England in part because of the paparazzi, but as my song points out, people in America are just as nosy here as they are there,” Darrell says. “If they really wanted their privacy, getting on Oprah in front of millions of people was a strange way to achieve it.”

While Darrell wants his song to help the Royal Family as they work to repair their image, he wants his music to accomplish a bigger goal: to remind people to not automatically believe what they tell you even if they are very important role models. “Instead, you need to do your own due diligence and your own studies so that you can clearly see people and world leaders and have your own views on them. If you do, there will be less gossip, and you’ll be standing up as a good person who has excellent character. You’ll be a person of love, acceptance, unity, and love.” 

Darrell is thoughtful as he thinks about the song’s message. “It definitely gets out the idea that abuse should not be allowed, especially when there’s no proof of it. We have to stand up for each other. The world is so divided, and we keep attacking each other for no reason. We go to war every day, but we don’t know why.”

That answer may never come, and Darrell knows it. “It seems to be something in humanity that makes us keep warring with each other. I hope, though, that more people choose not to. All it takes is for one person to commit to a life of truth and fairness, and we’ll see a domino effect. Then we’ll be able to really focus on the issues that matter, not baseless gossip.”