Denée Benton says the "system" wasn't set up to support Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

She told Tatler magazine: "It's such a layered conversation obviously. Being the first and only [person of colour] you're really set up for an incredible amount of abuse - the system isn't set up to support you. And I think that [because of] the lineage of the really profoundly devastating effects of colonisation as it relates to the monarchy, you can't necessarily just pop a black person in.

"It requires a lot of reckoning. Unless you're ready to do that work, then the person who's put in that position ends up suffering more than the changes they are able to make. It's [going to take] much more than one person coming in to trigger all of that change. It doesn't really work. They just get eaten alive or make the choice to protect themselves and [in the latter case], I'm like, 'power to you sis'."

Denée, 30, also revealed that her own friends joke she must have been a royal in a past life, because she has a taste for "nice things".

She said: "My friends joke I must have been royalty in a past life. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm not afraid to ask for help and support, or for someone to bring me nice things."

Meanwhile, Denee landed the role of Peggy HBO's 'The Gilded Age' in 2019 and admitted she was star-struck initially by her castmates Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Carrie Coon, Kelli O'Hara and Audra McDonald.

She said: "The first few days I was definitely nervous. I didn't want to take up too much of their time, so at the start I was hanging around wondering when I should go and say 'Hi'. Really, they are the warmest and most down-to-earth people."