King Charles today hailed the migrants who came to Britain from the Caribbean as part of the Windrush generation as "very special" as he unveiled 10 portraits celebrating their lives at Buckingham Palace.
Charles commissioned the portraits, all by black artists, to pay a "heartfelt tribute to the role they have played in our nation's story".
The 10 sitters, most in their nineties, attended a reception hosted by the King and Queen Camilla at the palace this afternoon along with their families and the artists who immortalised them.
They were joined at the reception by an array of prominent black Britons, including Baroness Amos, Baroness Lawrence, Sir Trevor McDonald, the actor Colin Salmon and the athletes Colin Jackson and Tessa Sanderson, as well as the prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley.
As the King and Queen toured the pictures, Charles told one of the sitters, Alford Gardner, 97, that the portraits will be "a most wonderful record of a very special generation".
For Gardner, who came over on the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948 and spent his working life in the engineering industry in Leeds, it was an almost overwhelming experience.
Stepping off the Windrush, he said, felt like "yesterday". He added: "Seventy-five years? It can’t be."
Gardner, who served in the RAF in the Second World War as a mechanic before returning briefly to his native Jamaica, said his 20-year-old self would never believe that he would one day be standing next to his portrait in Buckingham Palace.
At school he had been terrible at English history but added: "I couldn’t see any reason to learn about these kings. They didn’t interest me. History? Now I’m part of it. I've met the King and Queen!"
Gardner, who has eight children, 16 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild, said racism had been rife in Britain in his early days.
He explained: "You couldn’t get away from it. It was staring me in the face. But I kept away from it. If there was any trouble, I was gone."
Another sitter, Laceta Reid, 92, who came from Jamaica in 1957 and spent most of his working life in factories in Newport, Wales, said he had been told about the portrait project by a friend.
They talked about it in the pub one evening, and within a few days, he was having a meeting with the artist.
His portrait by Serge Attukwei Clottey is a dramatic picture which shows his suit merging with the background, to symbolise how Reid has made Britain his home.
Reid, almost lost for words, said about the first time he saw it in the palace: "I couldn’t believe it when I walked in here. Brilliant."
He said Britain was a very different place when he first arrived. "You had to play tough with the teddy boys. I lived through it. I got to fight back. Back then it was very rough", he added.
Linda Haye, 90, who came from Jamaica in 1958, worked across the educational system and also spent 20 years as a magistrate, said: "I had a great opportunity, and I grasped it. I never allowed racism to imprison me. Neither have I allowed my ethnicity to stop me from making a contribution and to achieve."
The portraits will be on display at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh from June 22 to October 26, and then the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace from November 10 to April 2024.
Last week, the King said he believed it is "crucially important" to "recognise and celebrate the immeasurable difference" of Windrush arrivals and their descendants ahead of a BBC documentary about the portraits.
The new show called Windrush: Portraits Of A Generation follows the portrait project, and the King said: "It is, I believe, crucially important that we should truly see and hear these pioneers who stepped off the Empire Windrush at Tilbury in June 1948 – only a few months before I was born – and those who followed over the decades, to recognise and celebrate the immeasurable difference that they, their children and their grandchildren have made to this country.”
The first wave of hundreds of workers from countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago arrived in the UK on June 22, 1948.
The documentary will also focus on stories from the group – who include Sir Geoff Palmer, who is being painted by Derek Fordjour; Jessie Stephens, who is being painted by Sahara Longe; and Carmen Munroe, who is being painted by Sonia Boyce – arriving in Britain and making their lives in the country.
Windrush: Portraits Of A Generation airs on BBC Two on June 22.
