Thousands of people gathered in Centenary Square on Tuesday to meet His Majesty King Charles III
The visit was part of a two-day tour in Yorkshire, which included meeting Morrisons Farming, Community, Sustainability and Apprenticeship programmes at their Headquarters, followed by a visit to Leeds, and ending in York.
The first stop for His Majesty was Morrisons HQ, which speedily followed with a lively lunchtime visit to crowds at Centenary Square. The King arrived at Centenary Square for around 1pm to the eclectic sounds of a brass band orchestrated by the City of Bradford Brass Band under Musical Director, Johnathan Bates and the dulcet beats of the dhol by Punjabi Roots Academy.
His Majesty was received by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Cllr Martin Love and Lady Mayoress Helen Love, where The King then proceeded to meet the excited, diverse and cheerful crowd.
The Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Ed Anderson then presented His Majesty to a civic line up which included Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe, Deputy Leader, Cllr Imran Khan, West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin, Cllr Rebecca Poulsen, Cllr Matt Edwards, Bradford West MP, Naz Shah and Chief Executive of Bradford Council, Kersten England.
The King was then taken into City Hall by the Lord Mayor of Bradford and Kersten England to meet a group of entrepreneurs, sports professionals and community leaders.
The group included brother and sister Yeasin Mohammed and Jasmin Akter who came to the UK as refugees. Twenty-six-year-old Yeasin has established his own food business Sizzling Lounge, while his twenty-one-year-old sister Jasmin has excelled in the field of sport, playing cricket.
Also meeting The King were Safiyyah Syeed, known as the ‘Hijabi Boxer’, Aisha Hussain, who has excelled in the field of cricket, and some young media professionals, which included Srosh Khan
For many of the young people ‘It was a dream come true to meet The King’ and they found His majesty to be ‘a nice person who is caring’
Local boxer Tasif Khan, who was also at City Hall found it to be ‘a great honour to be invited to represent the Bradford’s sports sector’ and to ‘welcome His Majesty King Charles III to Bradford on his first official visit as the newly crowned Monarch’. He said: “I was honoured to be invited and be able to discuss my boxing career and achievement with His Majesty King Charles III. It’s also a proud moment being recognised as the flag bearer in sport for our City of Bradford.
“It was great experience and privilege for me and Bradford as a whole. It is moments like this which will drive and inspire our city to prosper further”
Also meeting The King was Fatima Ayub of the Muslim Women’s Council. She was ‘touched’
and ‘honoured’ to have been selected to meet The King. “We spoke about our shared heritage and commonalities on the different faiths.” She told Asian Standard.
“I thanked him for all his efforts and contributions to Muslims and Islam. It was wonderful to see so many young people in our district leading the way”
The day was certainly a success for the City of Culture 2025.
