Their tearful Queen, the one woman they wanted to see
Rhianna Levi, 17, was so busy giving her details to the British Red Cross volunteer at the door that she didn’t spot the police outrider drawing up behind her. nor did she notice the noisy metallic chorus of camera shutters or the blue hat moving towards her.
her mind was on finding somewhere for her family to live for the foreseeable future. Forms completed, she turned round to rejoin her mother. Whereupon, she found herself chatting to the Queen.
after this week’s carefully stage-managed appearances at the Grenfell disaster zone by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, there was something rather touching, unspun and authentic about the surprise visit by the monarch yesterday.
There was certainly nothing scripted about one woman’s explosion of raw grief in the middle of the royal tour of the Westway Sports Centre, a main assembly point for those affected by this week’s inferno. nor had anyone bargained for a hysterical onlooker in the crowd at the end. But if there was one public figure whom this irate, bereaved community was genuinely happy to see, it was the head of state.
accompanied by the Duke of Cambridge, the Queen had wanted a minimum of fuss ahead of her arrival. There had been no big announcement. Only a tiny greeting line was waiting outside the front door. inside, staff and volunteers were going about their business looking after those who have been left homeless and those desperately searching for loved ones.
after handshakes with the mayor of the borough and the Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, the Queen paused on the way in to talk to the cluster of people around the registration table, starting with Vassiliki Stavrou-Lorraine, 65, who had lived next to Grenfell Tower for 34 years.
a volunteer at a local Citizens advice Bureau, she has been helping out at this centre ever since the blaze and told the Queen of the apocalyptic scenes she had witnessed in the early hours of Wednesday morning. ‘The voices of the children, that was very upsetting,’ Vassiliki said softly. ‘When we stopped hearing the voices of the children, it was really terrible.’ The Queen looked aghast.
She
turned to Rhianna who explained that her family had been ordered out of their house, at the foot of Grenfell, at 1am on Wednesday. ‘The flames were unbelievable. it was like a movie,’ she said. her sister, naomi, 28, talked of those trapped in the chaos. ‘it must have been impossible to see,’ murmured the Queen. ‘Just terrible.’
The little group thanked her for coming and the royal party made their way inside the sports centre. They were shown table after table of donated food and clothing and introduced to the volunteers who have been sorting through it all. all had a tale to tell of the horror. ‘Things like that – you never want to see,’ the Duke told one worker.
introduced to Loubna Aghzafi, a local resident helping out as a translator for the Moroccan community – Grenfell Tower had contained a substantial Moroccan contingent – the Duke was told about the large number of traumatised child survivors.
‘He gave me the name of a contact of one of the charities so i need to get them to come down,’ said Mr Aghzafi. ‘he said: “Please make sure to tell people that they need to talk about it”.’
The Queen and her grandson were then steered into the main sports hall where dozens of homeless locals have been camping on the floor. as the royal party were moving on, a woman’s anguished shrieking pierced the nervous hush. Clearly, someone had just received the very worst possible news. according to one volunteer, the Duke of Cambridge then slipped back into the room to console the woman out of sight of the cameras.
Before leaving, the royal visitors signed a book of condolence beneath yet more posters appealing for news of missing people, so many of them children. Given that every person being treated in hospital has now been identified and accounted for, these heart-wrenching quests for news – taped to walls and railings all over London W10 – are now almost unbearable to read.
While the Queen was still inside, a small posse from the London Fire Brigade had arrived from the disaster site. So had a sizeable crowd after word of the royal visit spread. Spontaneous applause greeted the fire- fighters, several of whom looked tired, sweaty and in need of good kip. But they all stood proudly to attention as the Queen and the Duke emerged to further applause. ‘You guys did an amazing job,’ the Duke told them.
as the Queen moved towards her car, a man waving a picture of two missing children started shouting: ‘Queen! Queen! Come here! What about the children?’
The
Sovereign had already let this engagement run well over time. She was due back at the Palace to welcome the President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic and his wife. Some of those in the crowd were clearly annoyed by his heckling but the Duke of Cambridge sought to calm everyone down, taking a few paces towards him and shouting: ‘We’ll be back.’
afterwards, the man would not give his name or details, though he acknowledged that the children on the poster were not his own.
For Rhianna Levi, however, it had all been a welcome distraction on perhaps the strangest day of her life. Two hours earlier, a police officer in breathing apparatus had escorted her back to the family home next to Grenfell Tower for the first time since the blaze.
She had been given four minutes to retrieve a few things and had then been escorted out again. ‘There was mess everywhere and this nasty chemical smell and the ground floor is all flooded,’ she said. ‘i don’t know when we’ll go back. We spent the night of the fire sleeping in the park and then moved to my auntie in Clapham so we came here to find somewhere to live. and then suddenly i’m talking to the Queen!’
‘it was lovely to see her,’ said Rhianna’s mother, Marcia, 53, a special needs teacher. ‘She really made a connection.’
Despite their predicament, the family were far more concerned about Rhianna’s former primary school teacher, nadia, currently missing with her husband and three daughters.
Rhianna had also just learned that a former school friend called Yasin, who had been rescued from the tower alive, had just died from his injuries. ‘i’m not sure i want to
move back in anyway after all this,’ she reflected.
In no time, the queues were growing again at the registration table. I met Randa Eid, tearful and desperate for news of her friend, Rania. She’d turned up on behalf of Rania’s sister, too frantic and emotional to go anywhere.
Ibtisan Alfawaz, 30, now homeless, had come in search of temporary digs for herself and her five children, aged between 13 and three. Though grateful to be alive, she grew increasingly emotional as she spoke of all those who had stayed put in Grenfell because they had been told to.
‘I want us to stop using this word “missing” and just admit that they have gone,’ she said, choking back tears.
So much anger, so many questions. A great deal of work lies ahead for volunteers like Vassiliki Stavrou-Lorraine. The Queen’s visit had been an immense boost, she said. But it will not erase the memories of Wednesday morning.
‘The screaming from the children was just terrifying,’ she said. ‘ But it was even worse when the screaming stopped. The silence...’ At which point, her eyes welled up and there was nothing left to say.