The Queen being welcomed in a warm handshake by President Kwame Nkrumah during her arrival
The acquiescence of Queen Elizabeth II who passed on last Friday was a required formality for our independence from England. This, she did, and that paved the way for the Union Jack and the “God Save The Queen” anthem in use throughout our colonial history to be replaced by our homegrown ones.
Her death therefore resonates especially in the country as one worthy of reflection by both those born from the time she ascended the throne in 1952 and others who recall the period when she was but a princess.
Those who were born in 1952 and beyond know no other monarch on the throne save Queen Elizabeth II. Our elders before then can however remember the days of King George and his effigy on the currency then in use in British West Africa.
As we join the rest of the Commonwealth of nations across the world in mourning her, it is worth remembering that she herself could not attend our independence celebration but her aunt, the Duchess of Kent, did in her place.
“My thoughts are with you on this day, this great day as you take up the full responsibilities of independent nationhood and I rejoice to welcome another new member of our growing Commonwealth family of nations.
“The hopes of many especially in Africa, hang on your endeavours.
“It is my earnest and confident belief that my people in Ghana will go forward in freedom and justice in unity among themselves and in brotherhood with all the peoples of the Commonwealth.
“May God bless you all.”
A pictorial journey in her brief trip to the country in 1961 is an easy way of telling the story of Queen Elizabeth II.
By A.R. Gomda