Royal honour gets slammed for ‘looking like George Floyd killing’

A Royal honour depicting a white angel standing on the neck of the Devil has been criticised by anti-racism campaigners –who claim it resembles the killing of George Floyd.

The Order of St Michael and St George is awarded by the Queen to ambassadors and diplomats for distinguished service. It is the sixth most senior in the honours system.

An image on the badge shows St Michael trampling on a prostrate Satan, but campaigners say it looks like the recent killing of Mr Floyd, who was suffocated after a white police officer in the US knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes.

The death triggered a global wave of Black Lives Matter protests.

An online petition calling for the redesign of the badge on the honour – founded in 1818 after the Napoleonic wars – has attracted more than 2,000 signatures. 

The petition says: ‘This is a highly offensive image. It is also reminiscent of the recent murder of George Floyd by the white policeman in the same manner presented here in this medal.’

Bumi Thomas, a British-Nigerian activist, told The Guardian that the image on the badge was of ‘a black man in chains with a white, blue-eyed figure standing on his neck’.

She added: ‘It is literally what happened to George Floyd and what has been happening to black people for centuries under the guise of diplomatic missions – active, subliminal messaging that reinforces the conquest, subjugation and dehumanisation of people of colour.’

Sir Simon Woolley, the director of Operation Black Vote, said: ‘The original image may have been of St Michael slaying Satan, but the figure has no horns or tail and is clearly a black man.’