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  • 2 days ago
Baroness Floella Benjamin shared a touching detail about the late Queen at the 2024 BAFTA TV Awards after accepting her BAFTA Fellowship

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00:00freeze the soul the late queen two days before she died she had my autobiography on her desk
00:07and in the autobiography there's a story of when she and i met when i was the i was the
00:13chancellor
00:14of the university of exeter the first black woman chancellor in this country and i spoke about
00:18forgiveness to her because she was so open with me and i thought i'd be open with her about my
00:23life
00:24and i said you know mom when i was a little girl in trinidad i used to stand in the
00:27playground and
00:27say god save the queen i was told the queen loved me britain loved me the motherland i was part
00:32of
00:32that motherland but when i came here it was not like that and so many people did horrible things
00:37to me and my family they sent the police to arrest us when we went to live in beckenham in
00:42kent that's
00:42why i'm called baroness benjamin of beckenham i've claimed beckenham for my mom and dad and i said to
00:48her i've forgiven all the people who were horrible to me because forgiveness frees the soul and two
00:54days before she died she was reading my autobiography which has that story in it and apparently
01:00her private secretary edward young told me the queen said to him i want to appoint fluella benjamin
01:07into the order of merit only 24 living people are in that order and she wants me to be one
01:13of those
01:13to give all little 10 year olds hope to show them anything is possible
01:19that's why i feel good holding this that i'm giving people watching out there hope telling
01:25them anything is possible don't ever be afraid to speak out
01:29you
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