Have you ever dreamt of standing in a room, talking to the Queen of England?
And even if it’s a reality, what exactly would you say to her majesty?
“You never get the dream that you’ll meet the queen so you don’t plan what you’ll say,” says Tess Gizoria.
But Gizoria had that opportunity…2 golden minutes of her life she’ll cherish forever.
“Surprisingly she’s human,” Gizoria laughs.
Gizoria was among 59 other young people throughout the Commonwealth invited to receive the Queen’s Young Leaders awards at the Buckingham Palace, from Queen Elizabeth II herself!
“Even when I was there, I didn’t realise that I was going to meet the queen. So I didn’t have anything prepared to say,” she recalls.
Gizoria describes the queen’s voice as “really soft, soothing and the most gentle voice I’ve ever heard”.
“She asked me what I did and I told her about my son and Uni Mums.”
She says the queen’s response was very short and was along the lines of well done, congratulations.
“Even though it was short, I felt like she meant it and even though she may have said the same to the other young leaders, it felt nice to know that somebody of her stature could look at what we young people are doing and give it that validation.”
Uni Mums is an NGO she founded in 2014 to support young single mothers who are in university and have to juggle both their studies and motherhood.
She founded this after having gone through the struggle herself. Her son is now 6 years old and has just started school.