King Charles has proudly unveiled the portraits he has commissioned to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Windrush generation, while praising their ‘immeasurable’ contribution to the UK.
The 74-year-old monarch said it is his “sincere hope” that the project will serve as a reminder that “our society is woven from different threads, each with stories of remarkable courage and sacrifice, determination and strength.”
The exhibition will be on display at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, His Majesty’s official residence in Edinburgh.
The subjects were carefully selected by the specially appointed Windrush Portraits Committee – chaired by Baroness Floella Benjamin.
Entitled ‘Windrush: Portraits of a Pioneering Generation’, the exhibition honors the men and women who arrived in Britain from the Caribbean 75 years ago in 1948 on the HMT Empire Windrush.
King Charles shakes hands with Gilda Oliver at a reception marking the 75th anniversary of HMT Empire Windrush’s arrival at Buckingham Palace
Queen Camilla imagined speaking to John Richards at the Buckingham Palace reception last week
In the foreword to a book accompanying the portraits, Charles said: ‘History happily and finally begins to give a rightful place to those men and women of the Windrush generation.
“The 10 portraits in this series, along with the tributes to other members of that indomitable generation, are a small way to honor their remarkable legacy.
“It is, I think, critical that we actually see and hear about these pioneers who disembarked the Empire Windrush at Tilbury in June 1948 – just a few months before I was born.
“And those who followed over the decades, to recognize and celebrate the immeasurable difference they, their children and their grandchildren have made to this country.”
The portraits will be honored as part of the official Royal Collection as a powerful reminder of the people of Windrush and their personal resilience and determination.
The ten sitters, now in their 80s and 90s, include RAF veterans Delisser Bernard and Alford Gardner, founding member of the Learie Constantine West Indian Association John (Big John) Richards and actress Carmen Munroe OBE.
Created by black artists personally selected by the king, the portraits will be displayed on 500 billboards and 600 screens in shopping centers across the UK for two weeks.
The newly crowned monarch depicted with Edna Henry, who is part of the Windrush generation
Pictured: Edna Henry’s portrait at a reception marking the 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush
Pictured: This portrait of Professor Sir Godfrey Palmer is included in the exhibition to be shown in Edinburgh
The sitters were selected by the Windrush Portraits Committee, appointed by Charles and chaired by Baroness Floella Benjamin, along with Paulette Simpson, Bishop Rose Hudson-Wilkin and Rudolph Walker.
Last week, King Charles and Queen Camilla hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace where he met the 10 individuals whose faces have been immortalized in paint.
The newly crowned King and Queen were joined by BBC News anchor Clive Myrie – whose parents were part of the Windrush generation and traveled to the UK in the 1960s.
Other high-profile guests at the event included veteran journalist Sir Trevor McDonald, former Loose Women panellist June Sarpong and Jamaican-born entrepreneur Levi Roots.
The former troopship Empire Windrush landed in Britain on 22 June 1948, transporting people from all over the Caribbean who had responded to an advertisement offering £28 tickets (about £1040 in today’s money) for those who wanted to work in the UK.
Pictured: King Charles was seen speaking to members of the Windrush generation and their families at the reception last week
Pictured: A portrait of Jessie Stephens, member of the Windrush generation, who traveled to the UK from the Caribbean
Pictured: a portrait of Linda Haye commissioned last year by King Charles when he was still Prince of Wales
Between 1948 and 1970, more than half a million Windrush migrants from the West Indies left their homes to emigrate to the UK.
Those who came from former and present British colonies had an automatic right to settle in the UK, as the country recognized that rebuilding the British economy required a large influx of labor from abroad.
Many of the migrants had fought for the UK in World War II and soon took up jobs as nurses, cooks, engineers, mechanics and more.
The call for new workers was mainly aimed at white Europeans, who had dominated immigration to Britain in the century before the Second World War and continued to play an important role after 1945.
Working-age adults and many children traveled from the Caribbean to their parents or grandparents in the UK or traveled with their parents without their own passports.
As these people had a legal right to come to the UK, they did not need and were not issued any documents upon entry into the UK, nor after changes to immigration laws in the early 1970s.
Many worked or attended schools in the UK without any official document proving they have done so, other than the same records as those of any UK-born citizen.
The Windrush scandal, triggered in 2012 by the government’s “hostile environmental policies,” saw migrants arriving from the Caribbean between 1948 and 1973 being wrongly deported, detained, or deprived of their homes and jobs.
After the fiasco came to light, the government promised compensation for all who suffered, but there has been criticism that the response was too slow.