Ke­jan Haynes

British High Com­mis­sion­er to Trinidad and To­ba­go Har­ri­et Cross says Queen Eliz­a­beth II was a queen who loved the Caribbean and a Queen who loved Trinidad and To­ba­go.

She made the state­ment to mem­bers of the me­dia while stand­ing un­der low­ered flags out­side the High Com­mis­sion’s of­fice in St Clair yes­ter­day, as the world mourned a great woman’s pass­ing.

Cross not­ed that the Queen vis­it­ed here three times - 1966 1985 and 2009.

“I ac­tu­al­ly had the plea­sure of meet­ing her for the first time in Trinidad and To­ba­go, which was such a co­in­ci­dence re­al­ly. But I met her here. I spoke to her for the first time and nev­er thought that I would ac­tu­al­ly be back here hav­ing to make such a sad an­nounce­ment to­day,” she said.

Cross re­called that the Queen’s last in­ter­ac­tion with Trinidad and To­ba­go was when the T&T De­fence Force Steel Or­ches­tra went to play in Wind­sor Cas­tle at her 70th Ju­bilee cel­e­bra­tions.

“They played Danc­ing Queen to the Queen, and she smiled and laughed and clapped,” Cross re­called.

“And I’m just re­al­ly pleased that she got that mo­ment of sort of Caribbean joy, as part of those cel­e­bra­tions.”

The High Com­mis­sion will open a con­do­lence book from to­day, but on­line, there will al­so be an on­line book of con­do­lences on the Buck­ing­ham Palace roy­al web­site that any­body can ac­cess.

Cross thanked every­one for the words of con­do­lences sent to her.

The flag at the British High Com­mis­sion will con­tin­ue to fly at half-mast un­til the of­fi­cial fu­ner­al, which will take place in nine days. It will rise briefly when King Charles ac­cedes to the throne and low­ered again to con­tin­ue the pe­ri­od of mourn­ing.

“So, it’s a re­al­ly sad day for us all,” she said.