British Nigerian boxing champion, Antony Joshua was asked to make a speech by the Queen who invited him to 2020 Commonwealth Day in London on Monday, February 9th, 2020. AJ delivered an amazing diversity speech and preached about working together to make wealth more common.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle were also in attendance, and this sadly marks their last duty and Duke and Duchess of Sussex, before moving to Canda to leave a private life with their young son.
ANTHONY JOSHUA’S SPEECH AT COMMONWEALTH
2020 EVENT
“My name is Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua and, like many of you here, I’m a child of the Commonwealth.
“I was born in Watford and my heritage is Nigerian. I come from the Yoruba people, who are the largest and some might say the loudest ethnic group in all of Africa.
“I’m proudly Nigerian and proudly British…
“These days we hear so much about division and difference that some might be tempted to see that as a bad thing.
“But on the contrary, it’s a beautiful thing.
“A thing to be celebrated and cherished, and a great source of peace and stability.
“I feel opportunity should be there for the taking along with hard work, dedication and perseverance, regardless of one’s background.
“We need to strive harder collectively in order to create unity.
“It takes a village to raise a child. And in the same vein, it takes a whole community to act and stand together to tackle some of the challenges we are confronted with today.”
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The boxing champion concluded his speech by saying “So here’s to fish and chips, egusi soup and pounded yam.
“To the UK and Nigeria, and the children of the Commonwealth.”
After the speech, Anthony Joshua briefly met and spoke one-to-one with the Queen for the first time.
AJ was awarded an MBE and OBEs in 2019, and they were both presented to him by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
Photo credit: Antony Joshua (Instagram)
