‘She brought people together’

I saw Her Majesty as an exemplar of all that is good about British values. Her strong faith and commitment to duty and service during an extraordinarily long reign, coupled with her easy connection with everyone she met (irrespective of their station in life), was the glue that helped to hold us together through good times and bad.

As the son of an African father and an English mother, I can confirm Her Majesty saw us all for what we are – people. By steering the transformation of our colonial past into the Commonwealth of today, Her Majesty eschewed division and worked tirelessly to bring peoples together, based on what is good in humanity. The scale of that achievement is demonstrated by Rwanda, Mozambique,

Gabon and Togo – four members of the Commonwealth which have no historical ties to the empire.

As the Queen appointed me as the first ever British-born black Lord-Lieutenant in the five hundred years since King Henry VIII created the role, I am living proof her attitude to the minority community was not to view us as somehow different.