Royal recognition for south Asian contribution

THE King hosted his first major event in Scotland for prominent members of the south Asian community since becoming monarch last month.

The event for the British Asian Trust, which he founded in 2007 as the Prince of Wales to tackle poverty and hardship in south Asia, took place on Monday (3) evening at Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh – the 73-year-old monarch’s residence in Scotland.

He was joined by Queen Consort Camilla as they met 300

members of the south Asian diaspora, including India’s high commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, who had his first audience with the king since taking charge in London last week.

“The king has been involved with British Asian communities for many years through his work with British Asian Trust, which he founded in 2007 with a group of British Asian business leaders,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

“Their Majesties welcomed guests of south Asian heritage from across the UK to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to recognise the contribution these communities have made to the National Health Service, arts, media, education, business and the Armed Forces,” it added.

The couple are currently in Scotland undertaking their first set of joint formal engagements since the royal mourning for the late Queen concluded last week.

During the hour-long reception, they also spoke to community representatives from Leicester, which has seen communal conflict in recent days.

“He was obviously appreciative of what our role has been in terms of policing, and he was very, very interested in hearing the community voice and how the communities are working together to bring back harmony,” said Rob Nixon, Leicestershire Police’s chief constable.

Guests at the reception included the British Asian Trust’s chair, Lord Jitesh Gadhia, as well as members of the Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, Bhutanese and Maldivian diaspora from across the UK.