A Cwmbran man and his mum met King Charles this week as the monarch celebrated his 75th birthday.
Sean Wharton and his mum Muriel were invited to a party at Highgrove, the King and Queen’s home in the Cotswolds. Sean was nominated for his work in race equality and the Windrush generation by Lisa Gardener, who works in the equality sector.
Sean told Cwmbran Life he had an email inviting him to Highgrove and replied to ask: “Is this real?” It was and a few months later he was driving his mum Muriel, 83, into the grounds of the Royal home. Mrs Wharton left St Kitts in the Caribbean on a boat for the UK as part of the Windrush generation on 12 November 1961, the same day as this week’s birthday party.
Sean said: “It was a day that my mum, me and my family will always remember. It was a privilege to be there and to be recognised.
“Everyone was so friendly throughout. There were only six tables of ten so it was very compact and personal. We had tea, scones and sandwiches. None of the other guests really knew why they were there and everyone was saying the same thing, ‘it’s just what I do’, people who go about their business.
“My mother was calm. He (King Charles) came in and spoke to us. He asked us where we had travelled from. We had a good chat and I mentioned Cwmbran. We then sung ‘happy birthday’. My mum is in all the photos that were in the papers, she was stood right by him. She’s stood next to Vernester Cyril OBE, a good friend of mine, who was the first black midwife in Wales.
“When we were driving home, it particularly hit my mum. I was privileged to be able to take her. She said that people stand outside to see a glimpse of royalty and we were in there having a cup of tea and chatting to the King, like we were at the cafe at Cwmbran Boating Lake.”
Sean spoke about the link of the date of the party being the same day that his mum travelled to the UK. He said: “Sixty-two years to the day after leaving the Carribean at the age of 21, she met the King. For me to be a part of that. I told her that ‘it’s only because of you I’m there, everything I do is because of you’. Sometimes we leave it too late to say ‘thank you’ to our parents. To be able to give her that was incredible.”
Sean is a Cwmbran Community Councilor for Upper Cwmbran East Ward, and runs No Boundaries Training & Consultancy, who run anti-racism training events.
This story on Sky News features a photo of King Charles cutting his birthday cake watched by Muriel Wharton and Vanessa Cyril.