A SOUTH African family who carved their way into the heart of Queen Elizabeth ll and corresponded with her for decades say they are mourning the death of someone who became very “dear” to them over a period of many years.
Tambuti Singh and his family, apparently descendants of Indian royalty, built a relationship with her through the many unique gifts they carved from the spirostachys africana or Tambuti tree.
That’s how Kuber Eadav Singh became known as Tambuti and how he came to be in possession of several letters marked with the royal crest and ER, for Elizabeth Regina the Queen, which are proudly displayed in his workshop in KwaDukuza on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast.
“It was really sad when we got the news. It was an honour knowing her,” said Singh’s son Rajiv, who helped his father carve the gifts offered to the queen.
He said they were shattered to hear about the death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch who served her subjects for 70 years, 7 months and 2 days.
During her last visit to South Africa in 1995 she met Singh and his wife Amnithy, who presented her with a jewellery box in Durban.
She sent them a letter soon after.
“I’m commanded by the queen to thank you for your letter on the 23rd March and to apologise for the delay in reply. This was due to the fact that your present to her majesty travelled back in the royal yacht and has only just arrived at Buckingham Palace. The queen thought it was most kind of you to wish her to have the jewellery box made out of such a very old Tambuti tree and appreciated your kind thought for her. I am to tell you that her majesty much enjoyed her return to South Africa.”
In their letter of condolences yesterday, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said the queen and President Mandela held each other in deep respect and affection, were on first name terms and frequently spoke on the phone.
Chris Chivers, who was on the staff of Westminster Abbey and part of the team which designed and choreographed the service to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her Coronation, said she had a particularly high regard for Mandela.
“He was certainly the only person in the world apart from her beloved late husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who called her Elizabeth!”
During the 1995 visit, Madiba named her Motlalepula, which literally means to come with rain.
In 1997 at a state banquet for Prince Charles, Madiba explained that the queen’s visit had coincided with torrential rains which the country had not experienced in a long time. “With the threat of El Nino, we would have welcomed her presence in this period even more. But we can rest content that a part of her soul and her magic is with us today.”
In 1947 she and her sister Princess Margaret accompanied their parents on a three-month journey through Southern Africa. Most of the tour was in South Africa and involved 17 000km of travel, almost half by rail on a specially constructed white train.
The family arrived in Cape Town aboard the battle cruiser HMS Vanguard.
The first state dinner featured sosaties, bobotie and Mrs Ball’s Chutney, while prime minister Jan Smuts escorted them up Table Mountain and to Royal Natal National Park.
Princess Elizabeth’s 21st birthday was the highlight of the tour with a military parade, government ball and a public ball.
At noon 21-gun salutes were fired from Signal Hill, and the Vanguard.
That evening there was a fireworks display over Duncan Dock and Table Mountain was lit up.
South Africa gave her a gift of 21 flawless modern cut diamonds.
However, it was the princess’s speech, pre-recorded at Victoria Falls, that so movingly told of the life of service she expected to lead.
“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong. But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do: I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.”
Despite the British monarchy’s long tradition of military service, Queen Elizabeth was the only female member of the royal family to serve in the armed forces, and the only modern head of state to have served in World War II ‒ as a driver and mechanic.
As a constitutional monarch the queen was obliged not to comment directly on political contexts or situations.
But those directly involved knew that behind the scenes she played a subtle but influential role in securing South Africa’s democracy.
Chivers said when she returned to South Africa for Human Rights Day in 1995 she was welcomed to St George’s Cathedral by Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
“She loved the Arch’s infectious humour and his energy. Her soft spots for him – he received the Companion of Honour from her – as also for Nelson Mandela – who received the UK’s highest honour, the Order of Merit – showed just how important she believed to be the wholescale change of South Africa from pariah state to justly feted democracy. In this, she doubtless walked her own journey of transformation,” said Chivers.
Despite the respect she commanded and her reign over 15 realms, Elizabeth the monarch, mommy, Gan Gan (grandmother) and animal lover was also known for her keen sense of humour, love of corgis and horses, her bright monotone outfits and her favourite tipple, gin and Dubonnet – a sweet, wine-based aperitif.
She apparently favoured White Rose by Floris, a perfume created in the 1800s and also worn by Florence Nightingale, while Ballet Slippers, a cult shade by cosmetics house Essie is “the only colour Her Majesty would wear”.
Born on April 21, 1926 in London, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was affectionately known as Lilibet because that’s how she pronounced her name as a little girl.
No one expected her to become queen because her father was only second in line to the throne.
However, she became heir apparent when her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson, and her father became King George VI.
The monarch’s love for Prince Phillip is a real princess fairytale.
She fell in love with the navy lieutenant at the age of 13.
Phillip was her distant cousin and the Prince of Greece and Denmark.
Love letters kept their romance alive and in 1947 they married in a ceremony she insisted was as simple as possible in acknowledgement of the period of austerity which followed the war. They remained together for 73 years until his death last April at the age of 99.
They had four children: Prince Charles (1948), Princess Anne (1950), Prince Andrew (1960) and Prince Edward (1964).
During a trip to various countries on behalf of her father who had been ill for a long time, she was asleep in a remote lodge in Kenya when the monarch died.
It was Phillip who told her her father had died overnight and she was now, at the age of 25, the queen and they returned home immediately.
Known for her devotion to duty, the queen worked up until two days before her death this week when she welcomed Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss.
During her monarchy the queen had 15 prime ministers, starting with Winston Churchill to Truss.
There were also 14 US presidents and seven popes and saw South Africa transition from apartheid to democracy.
In June she celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne. Even though she was too frail to attend some events in her honour, her keen sense of humour prevailed and she had tea and marmalade sandwiches with a favourite children’s fictional character, Paddington Bear.
Queen Elizabeth ll witnessed enormous change throughout her reign moving from television to the internet and even online meetings.
It took some convincing for her to allow television cameras to broadcast her coronation on June 2 1953, as she felt it would dissolve some of the mystery and pageantry. She relented and it was broadcast on the wireless and television.
In a speech later that day she said: “The ceremonies you have seen today are ancient, and some of their origins are veiled in the mists of the past. But their spirit and their meaning shine through the ages never, perhaps, more brightly than now. I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.”
In the first two decades of her reign, at least 20 countries in Africa and the Caribbean gained independence from Britain in a move towards self-government.
She also weathered calls for the abolishment of the monarchy and in a speech to mark her Ruby Jubilee in 1992, she declared that year her “annus horribilis”.
It was the year that a fire broke out in Windsor Castle and destroyed 115 rooms in her favourite home. It was year which saw the end of the marriages of Prince Andrew to Sarah, Duchess of York, Princess Anne to Captain Mark Philips while Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales officially separated in December that year.
In August 1997 the queen faced a public backlash over her handling of Diana’s death in a car crash, after she waited several days to make a public statement and the flags at Buckingham Palace were not flown at half-mast.
In her Golden Jubilee year in 2002 her sister Princess Margaret, and her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, died in February and March respectively.
Most recently she has had to deal with Prince Andrew’s alleged sexual assault of a minor after which he was stripped of all royal duties. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to quit as senior working royals and move to the US, and made inflammatory accusation against the royal family.
On Thursday the queen died at Balmoral Castle just hours after doctors said they were concerned about her health.
Outpourings of grief were seen in countries across the globe and thousands flocked to Buckingham Palace to lay wreaths and pay their last respects to her.
The British Cultural & Heritage Association in Durban said it was saddened that her light would not be seen again and prayed for the comfort of the members of the royal family as well as the people of the UK, as they grieved the loss of the beloved queen and matriarch.
“The Queen will be remembered as a central figure of world history for the past 70 years who had represented the UK and the Commonwealth with fairness, balance, wisdom and respect, who guaranteed stability in times of crisis, her sense of duty, commitment and a whole life devoted to serving the people of the United Kingdom.”
The queen is survived by her children, Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward, and eight grandchildren, Prince William, Prince Harry, Peter Phillips, Zara Phillips, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn. She also had 12 great-grandchildren – Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor, Savannah and Isla Phillips, Mia, Lena, and Lucas Tindall, August Brooksbank, and Sienna Mapelli Mozzi.
At the time of her death she was queen of 15 realms including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tuvalu.
The Independent on Saturday