Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to join over 400 distinguished guests at the Rogner Hotel at an event organised and hosted by The British Embassy. The reason for such a lavish affair was the 92nd birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen of England.
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Guests included The President Ilir Meta and his wife Monika Kryemadhi, Ambassadors and representatives from the Chinese, French, and Norweigan embassies, politicians and members of parliament, members of the armed forces, and the heads of local and international NGOs, as well as the EU delegation. We were treated to a formal reception followed by a less formal drinks reception, accompanied by live music from Kamela Islamaj and band. Food was served in the form of nibbles with an Engish theme such as Yorkshire puddings with beef, cheese on toast, and sweet treats such as lemon meringue pie.
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On show at the event was an incredible hyper-realistic painting by local artists Gezim Meta which portrayed Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Phillip. Gezim told me that the image took 8 months to paint, working days of up to 16 hours.
The British Ambassador Mr Duncan Normal gave a rousing speech to the enamoured crowd where he spoke not just about the Queen and her impressive 66 years of reign, but also about the ongoing cooperation between Albania and the UK.
“To to start I want to say that I am delighted that we have 8 Albanian students studying at this very moment in the UK’s top universities under our flagship Chevening scheme. In September we will send even more to the UK taking the total number of Albanians who have benefited from this scheme to almost 250. We will also see more Albanian military officers attending courses in the UK, and indeed we have British officers attending courses here in Tirana.
In the last year, we have also seen the British Council bring an amazing exhibition by the well known British artist Grayson Perry to Tirana and we have seen British military musicians playing alongside their Albanian counterparts at several enjoyable concerts. We have equally exciting plans for later this year and we will also be giving further support for schools to teach children about digital skills in a fun, interactive way.”
The event was a wonderful mix of Albanians, British and other nationalities and it was a good opportunity to network and meet new and interesting people. It was lovely to see the incredible artwork of an Albanian painter displayed so prominently, and it was nice to hear about the various projects that are being worked on through a collaboration between the British and the Albanian government.
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Thank you to the British Embassy for a wonderful evening, and thank you to the Ambassador for his warm hospitality. Oh and of course, happy birthday Lizzie!
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