Gold Dofe award holder tells how youth scheme changed her life
The Queen has personally thanked a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award holder for delivering a special tribute at Philip's memorial service, describing how his award scheme gave her opportunities which changed her life.
Doyin Sonibare, 28, addressed the royal family, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and charity workers as they gathered in Westminster Abbey in honour of the Queen's consort.
Ms Sonibare credited Philip's initiative, which he set up in 1956, with helping her secure her first job as a project co-ordinator at IBM aged 18 without any professional experience.
After the service, the Queen
expressed her appreciation to Ms Sonibare, for her speech that hailed the duke's "vision". Ms Sonibare, 28, said: "She thanked me for my speech shewaslovely,reallykind.and she asked what I did for my Duke of Edinburgh's award."
The 28-year-old, who has an ambassador role with the award scheme, said: "I just got amessagefrommymum-she said: 'Congratulations, really proud of you'."
During her speech, the east Londoner told the gathered congregation, who included Kingsandqueensfromacross Europe, the youth challenge had remained a prominent part of her life.
Following Philip's death in April last year, the Dofe launched the Living Legacy Fund in his memory to support its aim to reach a million more young people by 2026, with projects to reach marginalised young people and expanding the Dofe in prisons and young offender institutions.
Since it was set up in 1956, nearly seven million have joined the scheme in the UK.