Otumfuo’s Presence At King Charles’ Coronation Brings Us Pride- British Politician
British politician Paul Boateng expressed a sense of pride in Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II’s visit to the United Kingdom last year for the coronation of King Charles III, highlighting the significance it has brought to people of African descent in the European country.
His Majesty on May 4, 2023, ahead of the coronation was received at the Buckingham Palace alongside his wife, Lady Julia.
On May 6, Otumfuo and his wife led all royal heads who had been invited to the coronation at Westminster Abbey.
This, Mr Boateng said, brings a lasting and immeasurable pride and pleasure to Ghanaians and Blacks in the diaspora.
“We honour you. We also bring you the greetings of all your loyal subjects and many friends in the United Kingdom. We recall with great pleasure and pride the picture of you being received by our King at Buckingham Palace,” he said when he joined the third Akwasidae festival on March 31, 2024.
“From King Charles I to his successor, King Charles III, all those Monarchs of many years have had a special relationship with the Gold Coast as well as Ashanti and Ghana as it is. That relationship Your Majesty has had its ups and downs. Nobody who knows the history of Ashanti and the United Kingdom can forget the resistance of the Asante Kingdom to imperial rule.”
He was with his wife, Lady Janet Boateng whom he said had raised money and support for the Child Cancer Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and for the treatment of children who are suffering from cancer at KATH.
“Lady Janet and myself could not be in Ghana without coming to greet you and pay you our respect.”
According to Mr Boateng, the gesture by his wife was inspired by His Majesty’s contribution to the welfare and health of the people of Asanteman.
Profile (source: Britannica)
Paul Boateng is a British politician who became the first person of African descent to serve in a British cabinet when he was appointed (2002) Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
He was the son of Kwaku Boateng, a lawyer who served as a cabinet minister in the Ghanaian government of Kwame Nkrumah, and Eleanor Boateng.
After receiving a law degree from the University of Bristol, Boateng became a solicitor, focusing on housing, police, and women’s issues.
In 1981, Boateng won the election to the Greater London Council. Having been unsuccessful as a Labour Party candidate for the House of Commons in 1983, Boateng was elected to that body in 1987, becoming with Bernie Grant and Diane Abbott one of the first persons of African descent to win a seat in the House of Commons.
After the Labour Party won the 1997 general election, he served successively as a junior government minister for health and home affairs and as financial secretary to the Treasury.
In May 2002, he became the first black British cabinet secretary when he was appointed chief secretary to the Treasury. He retired from the cabinet and the House of Commons in 2005. In 2010, Boateng was made a life peer.
