UK apologises for 'pervasive racism' over imperial war dead

Yahoo – AFP, James PHEBY, April 22, 2021 

New report says the British Empire did not treat all World War I dead equally.

Britain on Thursday offered an "unreserved apology" after a new report said hundreds of thousands of African and ethnic minority soldiers who died fighting for the British Empire in World War I were not properly commemorated due to "pervasive racism". 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "deeply troubled" by the findings of a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) probe, which suggested soldiers were not treated as fairly in death as their white British counterparts. 

"During the First World War, millions of people from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East fought for Britain in the struggle against tyranny," he said in a statement. 

"Their contribution to victory was immense, not just in numerical terms but in their courage and valour, and many paid the ultimate price so that we might live in peace and freedom today. 

"I am deeply troubled by the findings... that not all of our war dead were commemorated with equal care and reverence. On behalf of the government, I offer an unreserved apology." 

Imperial attitudes 

Johnson's statement followed Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's verbal apology in parliament as Britain reckons with the legacy of its colonial past and links to slavery, against a backdrop of anti-racism and Black Lives Matter protests. 

Last month, there was a backlash at a government-commissioned report which concluded prejudice persists but the country is not "institutionally racist", enraging equality campaigners. 

The CWGC said the failure to honour the troops was "influenced by a scarcity of information, errors inherited from other organisations and the opinions of colonial administrators". 

"Underpinning all these decisions, however, were the entrenched prejudices, preconceptions and pervasive racism of contemporary imperial attitudes." 

The CWGC was set up during World War I to remember Britain's war dead. It cares for war graves at 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries, commemorating nearly 1.7 million people.

'Equality in death' 

The CWGC, offering its own apologies, has promised to try to right the wrongs of the past and build digital or physical structures to honour the dead. 

The Great War pulled in close to 70 million soldiers on five continents, leaving some 10 million dead in battle and claiming many million more lives through hunger and disease. 

The Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC), which became the CWGC, was founded on the principle of "equality of treatment in death", regardless of rank, class, religion or provenance. 

But while that aim was achieved in Europe, "the promise of equality had limits elsewhere" where there was fighting during the conflict, the report said. 

"In conflict with the organisation's founding principles, it is estimated that between 45,000 and 54,000 casualties -- predominantly Indian, East African, West African, Egyptian and Somali personnel -- were commemorated unequally," it said. 

"For some, rather than marking their graves individually, as the IWGC would have done in Europe, these men were commemorated collectively on memorials. 

"For others who were missing, their names were recorded in registers rather than in stone. 

"A further 116,000 casualties (predominantly, but not exclusively, East African and Egyptian personnel) -- but potentially as many as 350,000 -- were not commemorated by name or possibly not commemorated at all." 

'The Unremembered' 

CWGC director general Claire Horton said: "The events of a century ago were wrong then and are wrong now." 

The study was set up following a TV documentary on the issue by David Lammy, who is the main opposition Labour party's spokesman on justice. 

"No apology can ever make up for the indignity suffered by The Unremembered," Lammy wrote on Twitter. 

"However, this apology does offer the opportunity for us as a nation to work through this ugly part of our history -- and properly pay our respects to every soldier who has sacrificed their life for us." 

Commonwealth should 'acknowledge' past wrongs, says Prince Harry

Yahoo – AFP, July 6, 2020

Harry, Duke of Sussex, seen here in conversation with Formula 1 champion Lewis
 Hamilton, had already spoken out last week against institutional racism (AFP
 Photo/PETER NICHOLLS)

London (AFP) - Prince Harry has urged the Commonwealth, which his grandmother heads, to acknowledge its uncomfortable colonial past, in video extracts published on Monday.

The 35-year-old royal and his wife, Meghan, joined a video conference call with leaders organised by the Queen's Commonwealth Trust (QCT) from their base in the United States.

The sessions were set up in response to the growing Black Lives Matter movement, sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, during a US police arrest.

Harry last week outlined his personal commitment to tackling institutional racism, saying it had "no place" in society but was still too widespread.

On the July 1 call, posted on the QCT website, he said: "When you look across the Commonwealth, there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past.

"So many people have done such an incredible job of acknowledging the past and trying to right those wrongs but I think we all acknowledge there is so much more still to do.

"It's not going to be easy and in some cases it's not going to be comfortable, but it needs to be done, because, guess what, everybody benefits."

Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the Commonwealth, a non-political organisation of 54 countries, most of which have links to the British Empire.

It comprises 2.4 billion people -- a quarter of the world's population -- of which 60 percent are aged under 30.

The QCT was set up to give younger people from member nations a platform to share ideas and insights.

The chief executive of the QCT, Nicola Brentnall, has said the body is studying how the Commonwealth's colonial past and its legacy should shape its future.

Harry and Meghan stepped down from frontline royal duties this year and have set up a non-profit organisation focusing on the promoting of mental health, education and well-being.

Meghan, a mixed-race US former actress, has previously talked about her own personal experience of racism and unconscious bias.

Former army officer Harry has also complained about the "racial undertones" of media coverage of his wife.

The couple are president and vice-president respectively of the QCT.

Germany's Merkel condemns racist 'murder' of George Floyd

Yahoo – AFP, June 4, 2020

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pictured at an interview June 4, 2020, has been
a pointed critic of Trump's go-it-alone positions (AFP Photo/John MACDOUGALL)

Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday condemned the death in US police custody of George Floyd as "murder", saying that "racism is something terrible".

"This murder of George Floyd is very terrible. Racism is something terrible. Society in the United States is very polarised," she told national broadcaster ZDF in an interview.

Asked about US President Donald Trump's role in the unrest sweeping the country, Merkel said while she tries "to bring people together, to seek reconciliation", the US leader's "political style is a very controversial one".

Merkel has been a pointed critic of Trump's stance including on his go-it-alone style that sidelines international cooperation.

In a striking message to Trump after his election victory in 2016, Merkel had tied her pledge of close ties to democratic values.

Any "close cooperation" must be on the basis of the "values of democracy, freedom, respect for the rule of law and human dignity, regardless of origin, skin colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political belief," she said at the time.

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Pope urges respect for prostitutes at crowded Bangkok mass

Yahoo – AFP, Catherine MARCIANO, Jenny VAUGHAN, November 21, 2019

Pope Francis arrived at the stadium in a golden robe woven for him from Thai silk
(AFP Photo/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)

Bangkok (AFP) - Pope Francis led an impassioned mass for tens of thousands of emotional worshippers at a packed Bangkok stadium Thursday, urging respect for prostitutes and trafficking victims in a part of the world where sex work is rampant.

The remarks came at the end of a whirlwind day of meetings for Pope Francis, who is on his first trip to Buddhist-majority Thailand where he is carrying a message of religious harmony and peace.

He heads to Japan next, visiting the twin atomic bombs sites of Nagasaki and Hiroshima where he will seek a ban on "immoral" nuclear weapons.

The 82-year-old arrived at the stadium in a golden robe woven for him from Thai silk, greeting crowds of flag-waving faithful, some wiping tears from their faces at the sight of the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics.

An estimated 60,000 worshippers gathered for the mass (AFP Photo/Mohd RASFAN)

An estimated 60,000 worshippers gathered for the mass, some pouring into a nearby stadium to watch the hymn-filled service on large screens.

Known for his down-to-earth style, the Pope did not shy away from difficult topics.

He focused on the importance of helping vulnerable children and women "who are victims of prostitution and human trafficking, humiliated in their essential human dignity".

He also referred to drug addicts, migrants and "exploited sinners and bypassed beggars".

"All of them are part of our family. They are our mothers, our brothers and sisters. Let us not deprive our communities of seeing their faces, their wounds, their smiles and their lives," said the Pope, after leading prayers.

Performers dance after a Holy Mass led by Pope Francis (AFP Photo/Lillian

SUWANRUMPHA)

The remarks were delivered in a region beloved by tourists but infamous for a thriving sex trade and unchecked human trafficking.

Prostitution is illegal in Thailand, home to at least 300,000 sex workers -- some four percent of whom are believed to be trafficked, according to official estimates.

Many women are drawn to the work because they can earn up to 10 times more than the minimum wage, and critics say some corrupt Thai authorities turn a blind eye to the thriving trade.

Earlier, the Pope praised Thailand's efforts to stamp out the "scourge" of exploitation and enslavement of women and children, urging a "dignified" future for vulnerable youth.

The Catholic Church has been shaken by child sex abuse scandals itself in recent years, with many high-profile cases brought against clergy.

Known for his down-to-earth style, the Pope did not shy away from difficult topics 

at the mass (AFP Photo/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)

'Gift from God'

Thailand has not had a visit from a pontiff since John Paul II in 1984, and the small but spirited Catholic community was thrilled ahead of the mass.

Just over 0.5 percent of the population is Catholic but the community has been here for centuries.

For Pimrapat Panyawattanatikul, the service was her second shot at seeing a pope after John Paul II touched her head some 35 years ago.

Now she's hoping her mother will get a similar honour, with the pair sitting right on the track Francis was set to drive past in his Popemobile.

Francis paid a visit to the supreme Buddhist patriarch Somdej Phra Maha 

Muneewong at one of Bangkok's famed gilded temples (AFP Photo/Handout)

"It's a miracle we got these seats. It's my mom's dream to see the pope and to go to Italy. This is a gift from God," Pimrapat told AFP, her mother next to her clutching a rosary.

The Pope's colourful mass capped a packed schedule on the first full day of Thailand where he was welcomed Wednesday by cheering worshippers in Bangkok eager for a glimpse of his motorcade.

On Thursday Francis followed in the footsteps of John Paul II, paying a visit to the supreme Buddhist patriarch Somdej Phra Maha Muneewong at one of Bangkok's famed gilded temples.

The pair sat before a brilliant gold Buddha statue inside the ornate temple, built 150 years ago by the former Thai King -- the supreme patriarch barefoot and draped in orange robes as they spoke.

Thailand has not had a visit from a pontiff since John Paul II in 1984 (AFP Photo/

Vincenzo PINTO)

The Pope reciprocated the gesture, removing his shoes for part of the tete-a-tete.

In an earlier speech, the Pope said the meeting was "a sign of the importance and urgency of promoting friendship and inter-religious dialogue".

Nuclear ban

This visit coincides with the 350th anniversary of the founding of the "Mission de Siam", marking the first papal mission from Europe in the 17th century.

Though Christianity's first visitors were initially met with scepticism, today Thailand's nearly 400,000 Catholics face little discrimination.

Pope Francis heads to Japan next (AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

The Pope also paid a visit to Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha and King Maha Vajiralongkorn, gifting the top royal a colourful mosaic of a papal blessing in Vatican City's Saint Peter's Square.

On Friday the pontiff will host another mass, this one for young people, and meet with religious leaders in the city.

He jets to Japan Saturday, where he will visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both devastated when the US dropped atomic bombs at the end of World War II in 1945.

The pope, who years ago had hoped to be a missionary in Japan, has made strong calls for a ban on nuclear weapons.

Outcry as Jeffrey Epstein found dead in jail, FBI investigates

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, August 10, 2019

In this undated handout photo obtained July 11, 2019 courtesy
of the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey
Epstein (AFP Photo/HO)

New York (AFP) - US financier Jeffrey Epstein, awaiting trial on charges he trafficked underage girls for sex, was found dead in his prison cell Saturday from an apparent suicide, officials said.

Political leaders and law enforcement officials quickly expressed shock that a high-profile detainee who had already apparently tried to end his life in late July and would presumably be under close watch could manage to commit suicide. The Justice Department and the FBI launched investigations of the jet-set hedge fund manager's death.

Epstein, a convicted pedophile who befriended numerous politicians and celebrities over the years, was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Correctional Center from "an apparent suicide", the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said.

The disgraced financier was discovered around 6:30 am (1030 GMT) and rushed to hospital in New York where he was pronounced dead, it added in a statement.

Attorney General Bill Barr said he was "appalled" to learn of Epstein's death and had instructed the justice department's inspector general to probe how he could have died while in federal custody.

"Mr Epstein's death raises serious questions that must be answered," Barr said in a statement.

The FBI is also investigating the incident, said the DoJ.

The New York Times and other media quoted officials as saying Epstein hanged himself.

The city medical examiner's office confirmed Epstein's death but not what caused it.

It came a day after a tranche of sealed legal documents were released for the first time providing new details about what prosecutors allege was Epstein's sex-trafficking operation.

The death also comes just over two weeks after the 66-year-old was found unconscious in his cell with marks on his neck after an apparent suicide attempt.

Epstein did not appear to be showing any visible signs of injuries when he appeared in court on July 31 following that incident, to be told that his trial wouldn't begin before June of next year.

'We need answers'

The wealthy hedge fund manager had been charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

He was denied bail last month in a New York court because he was deemed a flight risk.

Epstein denied the charges and had faced up to 45 years in prison -- effectively the rest of his life -- if convicted.

The Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal facility in Manhattan that is often used to house suspects awaiting or during trial, is considered one of the most secure penal establishments in the US.

The infamous Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman spent more than two years there before being convicted and transferred to a federal prison in Colorado.

Epstein's death quickly raised questions about whether Epstein was in fact on suicide watch.

"We need answers. Lots of them," tweeted New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general at the Justice Department, said an investigation must "determine who is responsible."

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who heads the Senate's judiciary oversight committee, said the government had failed Epstein's alleged victims "yet again."

"These victims deserved to face their serial abuser in court," he said.

On Friday, two thousand pages of documents focusing on testimony by a victim who claimed she was a "sex slave" of Epstein were released by a New York court.

In them, Virginia Giuffre, now an adult, claims that she was forced to have sex with well-known American political and business personalities. They have all denied the allegations.

Sexual massages

Prosecutors said Epstein sexually exploited dozens of underage teenagers, some as young as 14, at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.

They claim that Epstein was "well aware that many of the victims were minors."

The girls were paid hundreds of dollars in cash to massage him, perform sexual acts and to recruit other girls, prosecutors allege.

They say Epstein had an army of recruiters, often not much older than their targets, who would approach vulnerable teens.

Epstein is also accused of paying off possible co-conspirators to "influence" them, US media have reported.

Epstein, whose friends have included President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew, was convicted previously of paying young girls for sexual massages at his Palm Beach mansion.

They have all denied knowing anything about his alleged crimes.

Epstein avoided federal prosecution under a plea deal that required him to admit to a single Florida state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor and register as a sex offender.

He served 13 months in a county jail before being released in 2009.

Last month, Alex Acosta resigned as US labor secretary amid a backlash over the deal that he negotiated with Epstein in that case while he was a federal prosecutor in Florida.

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“McCloud-3 Linear Reflections Part 1”, McCloud, California, US(5), June 28 – July 1, 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Pope issues new warning against fake news

Yahoo – AFP, May 18, 2019

Pope Francis is seen through the rain-covered window of his vehicle as he leaves
at the end of his weekly general audience at St Peter's Square at the Vatican on
May 15, 2019. (AFP Photo/Vincenzo PINTO)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday urged journalists to desist from publishing fake news, saying it could cause harm, and instead "take time to understand" issues before reporting on them.

Receiving foreign journalists in the Vatican, the pontiff also urged journalists to remain "humble" saying humility "prevents the rotten flow of disinformation and offers the good bread of truth."

Pope Francis said humility was of great importance as it implies consciousness "that through an article, a tweet, a live broadcast either televised or on radio can do good, but also if one is not attentive and scrupulous, harm."

He also said journalists must be very careful of their choice of words in an era of "hostile language" proliferating everywhere, especially on social media.

"Everyone knows how the search for truth is difficult and demands humility," he said.

He also asked the press to speak of "wars forgotten by society.

"Who still talks of the Rohingyas?" he said. "Who still speaks of the Yazidis? They are forgotten and they continue to suffer."

About 740,000 Muslim minority Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since a brutal military crackdown began in August 2017.

Thousands of refugees attempt to flee the Bangladeshi camps each year in pursuit of better opportunities in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand.

They frequently spend their life savings to embark on dangerous boat journeys they believe will improve their lives, but many fall prey to international human trafficking gangs.

The Yazidi community once numbered around 500,000 members in the mountainous Sinjar region of northwest Iraq, but it was ravaged by the Islamic State's 2014 sweep into the area.

Jihadists killed Yazidi men, forced boys to join their ranks as fighters and abducted and imprisoned thousands of Yazidi women as sex slaves.

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FAKE NEWS ! – (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Slavery reparations debate resurfaces in White House race

Yahoo – AFP, Chris Lefkow, March 24, 2019

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination,
has supported reparations for the descendants of slaves (AFP Photo/Drew Angerer)

Washington (AFP) - In January 1865, as the US Civil War was drawing to a close, some freed slaves were promised "40 acres and a mule" to begin new lives.

The audacious experiment was fleeting -- repudiated within months by president Andrew Johnson, successor to the assassinated Abraham Lincoln, and the land returned to its former owners.

More than 150 years later, the question of whether the United States should provide compensation to African-Americans for past wrongs is still on the table.

Reparations for centuries of slavery and racial discrimination has emerged as a spirited topic of debate among the slew of candidates seeking to become the 2020 Democratic nominee for president.

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, during his failed 1988 White House bid, raised the controversial subject but it has never figured so prominently before in a presidential race.

Barack Obama, America's first black president, and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton did not support compensation for the descendants of slaves.

Former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro is seeking to become the first US 

president of Hispanic origin (AFP Photo/SUZANNE CORDEIRO)

Among the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Julian Castro, the former mayor of San Antonio, have come out strongly in favor of reparations.

"America was founded on principles of liberty and freedom and on the backs of slave labor," Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, said recently at a CNN event in Jackson, Mississippi.

"This is a stain on America," Warren said. "I believe it's time to start the national, full-blown conversation about reparations in this country."

Castro, seeking to become the first US president of Hispanic origin, said he backed reparations while acknowledging there is a "tremendous amount of disagreement" on what they should be.

"If, under the Constitution, we compensate people because we take their property, why wouldn't you compensate people who actually were property?" he said.

Senator Kamala Harris, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, 

has signalled support for reparations (AFP Photo/Ethan Miller)

'Injustice, cruelty, brutality'

Warren has thrown her support behind a bill in the US House of Representatives that would appoint a commission to examine the subject.

The bill, HR 40, calls for a panel "to address the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865."

The commission would "consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery."

HR 40 -- so named for the unkept "40 acres and a mule" pledge -- was first introduced in the House three decades ago and has been resubmitted every year since, but has never reached the floor for a vote.

Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, the two black candidates in the race, have also signaled support for reparations while former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke has said there should be a "conversation" about the subject.

Senator Bernie Sanders has said he does not support the idea of "writing a  check" 

as reparations for the African-American descendants of slaves (AFP Photo/

Sean Rayford)

"We need to study the effects of generations of discrimination and institutional racism and determine what can be done, in terms of intervention, to correct course," Harris said on National Public Radio.

Marianne Williamson, a self-help author considered a long shot for the nomination, is the only Democratic candidate for the moment advocating direct payments to African-Americans.

Williamson has proposed creating a $200- $500 billion fund to do it -- a number that scholars of the subject have ridiculed as far too little. A more reasonable figure, they argue, would run into the trillions of dollars.

Two other Democratic hopefuls -- Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar -- have supported addressing racial inequality as part of their wider plans to reduce income disparity.

"I think right now our job is to address the crises facing the American people in our communities," Sanders said on ABC's "The View." "And I think there are better ways to do that than just writing out a check."

'Frightening'

Klobuchar said there was a need to "invest in those communities that have been so hurt by racism."

"That means looking at, for our whole economy, community college, one-year degrees, minimum wage, child care," she said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "It doesn't have to be a direct pay for each person."

Senator Amy Klobuchar said she does not support direct payments as reparations to

the descendants of slaves (AFP Photo/MARK WILSON)

Blacks are a key voting bloc for Democrats and their support is seen as essential to the candidate running against Republican President Donald Trump next year.

Fifty-two percent of the African-Americans surveyed in a 2015 CNN-Kaiser poll supported cash payments to the descendants of slaves.

But 89 percent of the white Americans polled opposed the idea.

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates, in a seminal 2014 article in The Atlantic called "The Case For Reparations," said the idea is "frightening" to many Americans "not simply because we might lack the ability to pay."

"The idea of reparations threatens something much deeper -— America's heritage, history, and standing in the world," Coates said.

"But I believe that wrestling publicly with these questions matters as much as -- if not more than -- the specific answers that might be produced," he said. "An America that asks what it owes its most vulnerable citizens is improved and humane."

The United States has handed out reparations in the past including to Japanese-Americans put in internment camps during World War II.

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Pastor Curry spices up royal wedding with power of love

Yahoo – AFP, Joseph STENSON and Pauline FROISSART, May 19, 2018

Bishop Michael Bruce Curry gave an impassioned address during the wedding
ceremony (AFP Photo/Owen Humphreys)

Windsor (United Kingdom) (AFP) - US pastor Michael Curry fired up Britain's royal wedding on Saturday with some dramatic oratory about the power of love that bemused the royal family but made him a social media hit.

Curry, the first African-American leader of the US Episcopal Church, opened his full-throttle sermon in front of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle by quoting Martin Luther King.

"We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world," he said, quoting the US civil rights icon.

With rhetorical flourish, the 65-year-old from Chicago said: "There's power in love. Don't underestimate it. Don't even over-sentimentalise. There is power, power in love.

"I'm talking about some power. Real power. Power to change the world," said Curry, who heads up the US branch of the Anglican church and is renowned as an animated and lively preacher.

Members of the royal family looked visibly bemused, not only at the lectern-banging, theatrical style and impassioned content -- but also his lengthy, off-script freestyling.

'Extraordinary and powerful'

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the leader of the world's Anglicans who married the happy couple, called it an "extraordinary and powerful sermon".

In the Windsor streets, crowds of royal fans watching on giant screens reacted with amusement at his 13-and-a-half-minute speech.

"He's STILL going on!" one man shouted from the crowd.

Kristin Glithero, 45, from nearby Wokingham, told AFP: "I wasn't expecting this American preacher. It is nice to see something a bit different.

"His message was lovely and the way he delivered it was very powerful. But maybe too long for the British public!"

At a street party in east London, retiree Janet Price, 69, told AFP: "It didn't go down well with some of the royals, judging by their faces."

Watching on a giant screen in Leeds, northern England, David Fryer said: "There was one little blip in the proceedings where the archbishop of wherever he was from just went on -- and on, and on, and on."

Star of the show

But reactions on social media were far more positive and he was trending worldwide on Twitter.

Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator magazine, said he had stolen the show, as maid of honour Pippa Middleton did with her figure-hugging dress at her sister Kate's 2011 wedding to Prince William, Harry's brother.

"If Pippa was the unexpected star of Kate's wedding, Michael Curry is the star of this one. Wonderful, wonderful sermon," he wrote, offering the preacher a column.

Formula One commentator David Croft said: "I haven't heard anyone talk as passionately as that about the Power Of Love since Huey Lewis and the News."

The Times newspaper columnist Hugo Rifkind tweeted: "I love how the entire British royal family is visibly dying of embarrassment because somebody is shouting openly about love at a wedding."

Curry also referred to slaves singing spirituals about the healing power of love in their captivity.

The ancestors of Doria Ragland, the African-American mother of bride Meghan Markle, were slaves and her surname is that of a slave owner.

"I cannot believe there is a pastor talking about slave spirituals at a dang royal wedding. Hello 21st century," wrote one Twitter user, @kateyrich.

"This Reverend just won the Royal Wedding," wrote @nat_sinclair93.

Curry's sermon also featured lighter moments.

"Two young people fell in love and we all showed up," he told the crowd, prompting an outburst of laughter.

Finishing up, he turned to the couple and smiled, exclaiming: "We gotta get y'all married!"

The royal newlyweds kissed in front of the Windsor crowds (AFP Photo/Danny Lawson)

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#RoyalWedding Time to party and Harry's driving.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave Windsor Castle for an evening reception at Frogmore House pic.twitter.com/q2MeMD1Y7C

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 19, 2018