Home ›› 19 Sep 2022 ›› Governance
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday showed her last respect to the Queen Elizabeth II saying that in her death she “lost someone like my mother.”
Hasina arrived in London on an official visit to the UK on September 15 to attend the funeral of the Queen.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem told reporters said that Hasina along with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana went to the Palace of Westminster to pay their last respect to the Queen.
They observed the one-minute silence as a mark of respect to the late monarch at the Westminster Hall of the Palace of Westminster where her body was lying-in state.
Earlier, on her arrival at the Westminster, Representative of the British Speaker received the PM and her younger sister.
Later, they were taken to the Lancaster House for signing the condolence book. In the book, Hasina wrote her condolence message in Bengali.
After that the prime minister was taken to another room where she has given her tribute to the Queen in front of television cameras.
In the Lancaster House, UK State Minister for Foreign Affairs Vicky Ford received her.
The prime minister reminisced that she met the late Queen for eight or nine times and Elizabeth used to know her by her first name.
“She was a motherly figure to me, I lost someone like my mother,” she shared with the UK state Minister for Foreign Affairs.
“... it seems a guardian is gone (as she has died),” she added.
High commissioner Saida Muna said that the prime minister and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana both saw the Queen in 1961 while she had visited the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
Hasina also said that the late Queen was like a global guardian and due to her death a vacuum has been created.
In the condolence book, the prime minister wrote, “I am expressing deep condolence on behalf of the people of Bangladesh, my family and my younger sister Sheikh Rehana.”
“Sheikh Rehana, who is also a British citizen, wrote she was the queen of our hearts and will always remain,” Bangladesh high commissioner said.
Earlier, King Charles III, in a telephone call from Buckingham Palace, thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for personally attending his ‘most beloved mother’s’ state funeral, to be held on Monday morning.
Charles, who long held the Prince of Wales title as heir to the throne, also thanked the President, as head of state, the Prime Minister, and also the people of Bangladesh for their sincere condolences and sympathies to the Royal family following the death of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
During the call, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “Her late Majesty was like a mother figure to me and an extraordinary head of the Commonwealth. To pay my personal tribute to her, I decided to attend her state funeral.”
The prime minister also informed the new monarch that in Bangladesh, her government observed three days of state mourning as a mark of respect to the late Queen, while special prayers were offered for her eternal peace.
She also took the opportunity to personally felicitate King Charles III on his accession to the throne, and wished him a long and prosperous reign.
Recalling his visit to Bangladesh in 1997, the PM conveyed that Bangladesh had been preparing to welcome him and Camilla, now the Queen Consort, again in just a matter of weeks, at an event to mark the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh-UK diplomatic relations.
King Charles III said, “The Queen Consort and I were so much looking forward to our visit to Bangladesh on the 50th anniversary. However, due to the recent turn of events, unfortunately we are having to cancel it.”
The King also extended his best wishes for the people of Bangladesh and the British-Bangladeshi diaspora.
