French magazine Charlie Hebdo sparks outrage with a cartoon portraying Meghan Markle as George Floyd with the Queen kneeling on her neck

• Charlie Hebdo magazine sparked online outrage after it compared Meghan Markle to George Floyd.

• The magazine's latest frontpage features a cartoon of the Queen kneeling on Markle's neck.

• The cover reads: "Why Meghan Markle left Buckingham Palace...Because 'I couldn't breathe.'"

• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has sparked online outrage after its latest frontpage portrays a cartoon of the Queen kneeling on Meghan Markle's neck, a visual reference to the murder of George Floyd last summer.

The headline of this week's cover translates into: "Why Meghan Markle left Buckingham Palace...Because 'I couldn't breathe.'" The cartoon shows the Queen flashing a large grin while she presses her knee into Markle's neck.

Floyd had been trapped under police officer Derek Chauvin's knee for more than eight minutes before he died in May 2020.

His death, captured on video, led to widespread Black Lives Matter protests worldwide and a social reckoning over police brutality and racism.

The cover has been widely condemned on social media. Halima Begum, the CEO of a UK anti-racism think-tank called The Runnymede Trust, called the image "wrong on every level" in a tweet.

"CharlieHebdo, this is wrong on every level. The Queen as GeorgeFloyd 's murderer crushing Meghan's neck? Meghan saying she's unable to breathe? This doesn't push boundaries, make anyone laugh, or challenge #racism. It demeans the issues & causes offense, across the board," she wrote.

British activist group Black and Asian Lawyers For Justice called the publication "outrageous, disgusting, fascist racism" and said it was "pimping George Floyd trauma for profit."

"The publication comes days after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused the British press as well as the royal family of racism, telling Oprah Winfrey in a bombshell interview that there had been concerns within the family about her baby's skin tone.

Markle told Winfrey there were several "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born," according to CNN. "That was relayed to me from Harry. Those were conversations that family had with him," she added. Prince Harry later declined to reveal who was involved in those conversations.

The Palace responded to the allegations earlier this week, writing in a statement that the issues surrounding race that had been raised in the interview were "concerning."

"The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan," the palace said. "While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately."

Insider contacted Charlie Hebdo for comment.

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