By: Mohamed Jalloh
H.E President Julius Maada Bio and his wife Mrs. Fatima Maada Bio, was officially welcomed in London for the coronation, by a Special Representative of HM King Charles’ government at the VVIP Lounge of the Windsor Suite, Heathrow International Airport. The couples are in London to grace the Coronation of His Majesty The King will take place on Saturday 6th May, 2023.
Among the Sierra Leoneans that received the president is the Sierra Leone High commissioner to the United Kingdom His Excellency Morie Manyeh.
“The Coronation Ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, London, and will be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, at the age of 96. Her death was publicly announced at 18:30. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III. Elizabeth’s state funeral on 19 September was the first held in Britain since that of Winston Churchill in 1965. A funeral service was held at Westminster Abbey, followed by a procession to Wellington Arch that featured around 3,000 military personnel and was watched by around a million people in central London. The state hearse then transported the Queen’s coffin to Windsor, followed by another procession through Windsor Great Park and a committal service at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
During the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, president Bio was unable to attend because of his busy schedule.
The funeral coincided with the global education summit in the united States of America, which president Bio graced given that he chooses human capital development as his government`s flagship programme. Despite being unable to attend, president Bio appointed her wife Fatima Bio to represent him and the country as a whole during the queens` funeral.
It should be noted that Sierra Leone is a former British colony and only gained her formal independence in 1961.
Sierra Leone is still a member of the Common wealth, an organization that is headed by the British monarch King Charles111.