DAN WOOTTON: Over-privileged, over-woke and over here: Would the American student who cancelled the Queen have disrespected his own country like that?

So it was an American who cancelled our Queen at Oxford University.

Should we be surprised? Hell no!

This was always the risk of the corrosive narrative spread by Harry and Meghan’s diehard Yank supporters like Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King, who seem cravenly obsessed with linking the modern-day Royal Family to racism without any evidence to back up such claims.

Computer science lecturer Matthew Katzman – who tabled the motion to remove the ‘unwelcoming’ portrait of the Queen from Magdalen’s Middle Common Room (MCR) – is the epitome of US privilege.

The 25-year-old is the son of a lawyer who lives in a £4 million mansion in Washington DC.

Computer science lecturer Matthew Katzman – who tabled the motion to remove the ‘unwelcoming’ portrait of the Queen from Magdalen’s Middle Common Room (MCR) – is the epitome of US privilege, writes DAN WOOTTON 

The MailOnline today revealed he attended a £33,000 posh college attended by the Obama’s daughters and Chelsea Clinton, then went to the elite Stanford University, before arriving at Oxford to study for a PhD in ‘complexity theory’.

More from Dan Wootton for MailOnline…

So far, so all-American.

His interests include CrossFit, poker, board games, playing the trumpet and Spartan races.

Certainly not history, based on his totally warped view of the Queen.

What this woketopian prat has failed to realise is that our monarch has proven in actions throughout her life to be the ultimate anti-racist.

Like the fact that during World War Two – as her London home was bombed – she joined the fight against the Nazis as a 19-year-old member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service.

Or the small matter that she was on the throne as the British Empire was dismantled.

And the reality that she’s spent her working life passionately protecting the multi-racial Commonwealth, with a special focus on Africa.

In the Eighties she was even prepared to go head to head with her Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over sanctions on the racist South African regime.

But for a student show off like Katzman none of that matters.

I’d bet money on the fact Meghan, the Californian Duchess of Woke, will enter the discussions, writes Wootton 

The MCR decided the print – based on a 1952 photo showing the Queen with a youthful glow in a white gown and blue sash ahead of her coronation – was ‘unwelcoming’ because the monarch represents ‘recent colonial history’.

The committee, no doubt led by Katzman, is now going to explore replacing the portrait with ‘art by or of other influential and inspirational people’.

I’d bet money on the fact Meghan, the Californian Duchess of Woke, will enter the discussions.

Defending the ludicrous decision, which has caused outrage across Great Britain today, Katzman said it did not ‘equate to a statement on the Queen’.

But he added: ‘It has been taken down. It was decided to leave the common room neutral. That was what this was about. The college will have plenty of depictions of various things, but the common room is meant to be a space for all to feel welcome.’

Would this rabble-rouser disrespect his own country like this? I highly doubt it.

His social media profile is full of pictures of him proudly flying the stars and stripes.

But that’s the real problem with this breed of identity politics, where everything is about virtue signalling rather than facts on the ground.

The cult of woke spreading like a plague throughout our universities is intent on cancelling and hiding our history and heritage, rather than having rational conversations about the good, the bad and the ugly.

The print was bought and put up by a previous group of students, and shows the monarch in a white gown and blue sash. It is based on a 1952 photograph taken by Dorothy Wilding to mark her accession and coronation (pictured)

Just last month Joleen Clarke, the associate director at King’s College libraries, felt the need to issue a pathetic grovelling apology after she shared an innocuous historic snap of Prince Philip visiting the university.

She wrote: ‘The picture was included as a historical reference point following his death. The inclusion of the picture was not intended to commemorate him. Through feedback and subsequent conversations, we have come to realise the harm that this caused members of our community, because of his history of racist and sexist comments. We are sorry to have caused this harm.’

It must be disconcerting for the 95-year-old Queen to see this reaction from universities to her legacy and that of her late husband during the twilight years of her superb reign.

I hope she understands the British public stand firm against this sort of nonsense and there is now growing evidence the government will also stand up against the woke mob trying to destroy our culture.

Mr Katzman’s social media profile is full of pictures of him proudly flying the stars and stripes

The Education Secretary Gavin Williamson moved fast to condemn the most recent decision, writing: ‘Oxford University students removing a picture of the Queen is simply absurd. She is the Head of State and a symbol of what is best about the United Kingdom. During her long reign she has worked tirelessly to promote British values of tolerance, inclusivity and respect around the world.’

We should remember too that Oxford students have a long history of backing the wrong side of the argument.

In 1933, the Oxford Union debating society passed a controversial motion declaring: ‘This House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country.’

If the rest of the country had followed Oxford’s lead, Elizabeth II may never have become Queen and we might still be giving Nazi salutes today.

When it comes to cancelling the Queen, the students – including the American ringleader – should be roundly ignored again.

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