When I heard the sad news that the Queen had died, I cried. I had never met Her Majesty, but still felt as though she was a part of my family.
Queen Elizabeth was a role model in our home.
Even though she didn’t share the same skin colour or represent my parents’ Muslim faith or speak Urdu, she was respected, loved and revered by my immigrant Pakistani parents.
For them, she represented everything that was good about being British. She was inclusive, informed, kind and hard-working.
My parents came from a commonwealth country and they could have been angry about the role the Queen and her family played in colonising their nation.
But they never did blame her for Britain’s imperial past.
They regarded her as someone who did much to bring people and nations together.
The fact that the Queen was instrumental in creating a Commonwealth of 54 countries is a testament to that.
So I was shocked and angered at ex-footballer Trevor Sinclair, who tweeted on the day of her death: “Racism was outlawed in England in the 60’s & allowed to thrive, so why should black and brown mourn!! #queen.” Sinclair, born in the UK and who played for England, chose to spread divisiveness on a day of mourning.
A day when millions of people from diverse backgrounds were united in grief and paying respects to a 96-year-old woman who had served her people tirelessly for 70 years.
The Queen wasn’t perfect – she made a few mistakes, but she was never on the wrong side of goodness, kindness or service.
Sinclair – who later deleted his tweet and has been suspended from his job at talkSPORT and forced to issue a grovelling apology – should note that the Commonwealth is made up of many brown and black people.
Would the leaders of these nations still want to belong to the club if they felt the woman who set it up had a racist agenda? No, they have come out to pay their respects to the Queen because she respected them.
I believe that King Charles III will keep Her Majesty’s legacy alive and will go on to strengthen it. Some of the younger royals have come under fire for some missteps on recent foreign tours, but they have learned from it and will do better in future.
I have met the new King when he was merely a prince.
He was patron of the British Asian Trust, and always championed our causes.
I believe that in a world where there is so much change, discord and pain, the Commonwealth will represent unity and stability, which is how our late sovereign always envisaged its role in the world.
Queen Elizabeth carried herself with grace and dignity – the rest of us should do the same.
This weekend, the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror celebrate the life of Her Majesty the Queen with a commemorative special filled with all the key moments from Britain’s longest reigning monarch. Be sure to pick up your copy of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror to get both pullouts.
