King Charles and Queen Camilla are joined by Sir Trevor McDonald and June Sarpong as they host reception at Buckingham Palace to mark 75th anniversary of Windrush Generation’s arrival in UK
- The royal couple will unveil 10 new portraits of Windrush elders this afternoon
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King Charles and Queen appeared in great spirits this afternoon as they hosted a reception at Buckingham Buckingham to celebrate the 75th anniversary of HMT Empire Windrush’s arrival into the UK.
The newly-crowned King and Queen were joined by BBC News anchor Clive Myrie – whose parents were part of the Windrush generation and travelled to the UK in the 60s.
Other high profile guests at the event included veteran journalist Sir Trevor McDonald, former Loose Women panelist June Sarpong and Jamaican-born entrepreneur Levi Roots.
For the occasion, the Queen wore a stylish button-down green-and-white printed dress.
The royal completed her ensemble with a dainty gold pendant necklace and some pearl earrings.
Queen Camilla smiles for a photo with former Loose Women panelist June Sarpong at the Windrush reception this afternoon
At the historic event this afternoon, the royal couple will unveil 10 new portraits of Windrush elders.
The King commissioned the pieces of artwork in 2022 when he was still the Prince of Wales.
The subjects were carefully selected by the specially-appointed Windrush Portraits Committee – which was chaired by Baroness Floella Benjamin.
The portraits will pay tribute to the Windrush Generation and the lasting impact they had had on the UK.
King Charles is said to have personally selected Black artists to paint the portraits.
The former troop ship Empire Windrush landed in Britain on June 22, 1948, carrying people from across the Caribbean who had responded to an ad offering tickets for £28 (around £1040 in today’s money) to those wanting to work in the UK.
Between 1948 and 1970 more than half a million Windrush migrants from the West Indies left their homes to emigrate to the UK.
Those who came from former and current British colonies had an automatic right to settle in the UK, as the country recognised the reconstruction of the British economy required a large influx of labour from abroad.
Many of the migrants had fought for the UK in the Second World War and soon took up jobs as nurses, cooks, engineers, mechanics and more.
King Charles appeared in great spirits this afternoon before unveiling the 10 portraits he commissioned last year
Queen Camilla shakes hands with Sir Trevor Lawson McDonald during a reception to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush
The newly-crowned King and Queen were joined by BBC News anchor Clive Myrie – whose parents were part of the Windrush generation and travelled to the UK in the 60s.
Pictured: Queen Camilla speaks with Jamaican-born entrepreneur Levi Roots, who shot to fame with his Reggae Reggae sauce on Dragon’s Den
King Charles shakes hands with Michael Gove during a reception to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush
Queen Camilla seen speaking with Moira Stuart, who was the first female newsreader of Caribbean descent to present BBC News
Queen Camilla shakes hands with British saxophonist Yolanda Brown, who was awarded an OBE in December
King Charles pictured speaking with David Lammy, the Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The appeal for new workers was primarily aimed at white Europeans, who had dominated immigration to Britain during the century before the Second World War and still played an important role after 1945.
Working age adults and many children travelled from the Caribbean to join parents or grandparents in the UK or travelled with their parents without their own passports.
Since these people had a legal right to come to the UK, they neither needed nor were given any documents upon entry to the UK, nor following changes in immigration laws in the early 1970s.
Many worked or attended schools in the UK without any official documentary record of their having done so, other than the same records as any UK-born citizen.
The Windrush scandal, brought about in 2012 by the Government’s ‘hostile environment policy,’ saw migrants who arrived from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1973 wrongly deported, detained or stripped of their homes and jobs.
Pictured: Queen Camilla holding an audience with Colonel Ruth Weir at Buckingham Palace earlier this afternoon
After the fiasco came to light, the Government pledged compensation for anyone who suffered, but there has been criticism that the response has been too slow.
Earlier today, Queen Camilla held an audience with Colonel Ruth Weir – who is head of the Royal Australian Corps of Military Police – at Buckingham Palace.
The royal also attended the Bees For Development Garden Party to mark the charity’s 30th anniversary.
During the garden party, Camilla helped to make a paper bee sculpture and also rubbed out a drawing of the insect to symbolise their destruction.
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