American lawyer causes stir by buying Princess Diana’s bike for $80k for white supremacy exhibition

Anti-royalist lawyer from Baltimore to exhibit 1970s Raleigh rejected by royals

The 1970s Rayleigh Traveller bike formerly belonging to Princess Diana (Burstow & Hewett)

A lawyer from Baltimore is causing a stir after buying a bike formerly belonging to Princess Diana, for an exhibition on white supremacy.

Anti-royalist Barry Glazer, 76, brought the vintage bicycle for roughly $80,000 (£56,532) at an auction in East Sussex in April.

The idea is to display it as part of exhibition detailing the "basic racist roots” of the British royal family, according to Mr Glazer’s law firm.

Following the auction, the firm told Road.CC that the exhibition will take the form of a memorial, inside a building with ties to the emancipation of slaves in the US.

Mr Glazer, the law firm went on, was “disturbed” by recent television coverage of the funeral of Prince Phillip and believes “the Royal Family’s claim for superiority is rooted in the logic of white supremacy”.

It also alleged that “the logic is the same with racism – if wealth, honour, and respect can be earned by the mere accident of birth then surely the advantages of being white as a result of the same accident of birth can easily be justified”.

The bike — a blue 1970s Ladies Raleigh Traveller — was described by the East Sussex auction house a “symbol of Diana’s oppression...something she loved being taken away”, according to The Sunday Times.

It is alleged that the Royal Family forced the princess to sell the bike before marrying Prince Charles in 1981 because it was unfit for a member of the Royal Family.

Mr Glazer's wife, Nadge, told The Times:: “The royal family thinks they're too good to be associated with this type of transportation that the common folk use”.

“They consider themselves better than common folk and that's the basis for racism,” the 34-year-old added. “It's the reverse of what this country stands for.”

Mr Glazer, infamous in Baltimore for being eccentric, faces criticism for buying the Raleigh, and of “showboating for clickbait”.

“Rather than showboating for clickbait, I would urge anyone truly interested in creating a more equitable society to volunteer their time and money to on-the-ground organisations,” said Amanda Foreman, a historian, to The Times.

Mr Glazer told The Independent: “I am an attorney and advertise, as such publicity is not something i shy away from and it is my desire to be well known and in demand. I have tried to build a brand around myself and paying over $80,000 has and will give me substantial exposure.”

“At the same time, if you go through the commercials I have done over the past 30-40 years you will see that along with promoting myself there is usually a social point I am making.,“ the lawyer added.

“It seems hypocritical that US citizens follow the royal families every move, and hold them in such high regard when the entire royal system is based on birth rights of the privileged and the entire white supremacy argument is the birth right of being white,” Mr Glazer said. “That is racism in its truest form.”