Three exceptional Caribbean women have been awarded prominent roles in the historic British event, which will take place for the first time since 1953.
Baroness Floella Benjamin from Trinidad, Baroness Valerie Amos from Guyana, and Reverend Prebendary Rose Hudson-Wilkin from Jamaica are the three lady wonders of Caribbean descent who will be granted significant responsibilities.
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Having served as the Windrush Commemoration Committee’s head, Baroness Benjamin, a former children’s television host who is now an author and peer, will wield Charles’s scepter, also referred to as the Rod of Equity and Mercy, which symbolizes his spiritual function.
The Archbishop of Canterbury and Baroness Amos will participate in the Act of Recognition at the start of the coronation. Baroness Amos, who became inducted into the Order of the Garter in the year 2022, is the first black woman to hold a Cabinet ministerial position.
The King will later in the event receive the St. Edward’s Crown from the Archbishop of Canterbury.
During the opening of the event, Hudson-Wilkin, the Bishop of Dover, will present the Queen Consort’s rod.
The entire list of positions selected for the coronation was announced by Buckingham Palace, which stated that “those undertaking these historic roles in the service have been chosen to recognize, thank and represent the nation due to their significant service.”
The Palace has announced that religious leaders would enter Westminster Abbey first, followed by dignitaries from His Majesty’s domains.
Four peers from the Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish religions will make up the group of religious leaders, and they will each give the monarch a piece of regalia. Never before have non-Christian religious leaders participated in the coronation of a British king.
National delegates will carry the flags of their respective nations, which include those from the Caribbean, together with their governors-general and prime ministers.
Baroness Benjamin oversaw the effort to create the National Windrush Monument near Waterloo Station last year in her capacity as head of the Windrush Commemoration Committee.
The permanent memorial, according to her, serves as “a symbolic link to our past and a permanent reminder of our shared history and of the extraordinary contribution to this country by the Windrush generation”.
Gordon Brown named Baroness Amos secretary of state for international development in 2003, making her the first BAME woman to hold a Cabinet ministerial position.
She was then named the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, and in 2015, she served as director of SOAS, an institution in London, making history as the first black woman to head a British institution.
In June 2019, Hudson-Wilkin assumed the position of Bishop of Dover. Prior to that, she served as the London parish’s priest in charge and the House of Commons speaker’s chaplain.
Born and reared in Jamaica, Hudson-Wilkin. She received her education at Birmingham University after attending Montego Bay High School for Girls. She was named chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen in 2007 and was the first woman to be named as the 79th chaplain to the speaker of the House of Commons in 2010.
In an interview with The Gleaner, Hudson-Wilkin discussed the significance of the position she would play at the coronation ceremony and replied, “I am excited, surprised, and deeply honored to have been asked to take part in this most historic of events.”
“Growing up in St Francis Mission Church in Glendevon, Montego Bay, I would never have dreamt of having a ‘ringside seat’, never mind taking part in the coronation service of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Jamaica has laid the foundations of my formative years, my Sunday school teachers at St Francis; my teachers from Albion All-Age School, and Montego Bay High School for girls. You, along with my friends, there have played a significant part in my journey of growing in confidence, and I thank you. You have played a part in all that I have achieved.”
She added, “Among all the tradition, pomp, and ceremony, we must not forget that this is a religious ceremony where their majesties are committing themselves to a life of service to the nation and the Commonwealth. My heart will be filled with prayer for their majesties and their family, but there will also be a special prayer for the people of Jamaica.”
