Head of State Pays Respects to Queen Elizabeth 11

Staff Reporters

APIA, SAMOA – 20 SEPTEMBER 2022: Samoa’s Head of State Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II joined five hundred other world leaders in London in the funeral services of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall as her coffin lay in state.

His Highness paid his respects to her Majesty on Sunday, the last night before the late Monarch’s State Funeral on Monday night (Samoan time).

Millions more around the world witnessed the funeral services via the BBC and other live Television coverage from the start of her funeral services from Scotland where she passed away, to the State Funeral and to the lowering of her coffin down to her final resting place at the Royal Vault at Windsor, next to her husband’s vault.

Tuimalealiifano paid tribute to Her Majesty the Queen as an inspiration to the people of Samoa.

“She was a symbol of strength and stability, whose legacy will be warmly remembered by all whose lives she touched,” Tuimalealiifano wrote.

He said that Queen Elizabeth II continued to inspire hope and confidence in the future when worldwide change and progress, unrest and uncertainty clouded the pathway forward.

“James 1 Verse 12 reads: ‘Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him’,” he wrote.

“Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth II was a faithful servant of God, who has now been called home to her Maker.”

The Head of State’s delegation to the funeral services in London include Faamausili Leinafo Tuimalealiifano and Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (MPMC) and Secretary of Cabinet Agafili Shem Leo, the Assistant CEO for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Desna Solofa and the Head of States Aid-de-Camp, Inspector Norman Tuafale Meni.

They were joined by Samoa’s High Commissioner-designate to the United Kingdom and Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, Francella Strickland-Simonet.