14:40, BST - FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9TH 2022: BIRMINGHAM WEST MIDLANDS, UNITED KINGDOM

"If there is a moment, which I, the nation, and the globe most dreaded; it was very much the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.

As our Monarch, Head of the Commonwealth of Nations and as a Grandmother to many more than her family, Her Majesty’s over 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom and right around the world was done with decency, sheer devotion, and the fullest joy; not least knowing of the important charitable causes which she and The Royal Family supported.

The announcement of her Death aged 96 yesterday evening has left me upset and quite lost for words, for three particular reasons:

1)   Through the return of the raw emotion of grief, which myself and my family experienced after the sudden loss of my beloved older Brother Kieran on Christmas Day last year;

2)   Knowing that I was in a way, at Her Majesty’s Service on June 4th and 5th, whilst representing the National Citizen Service at the Platinum Jubilee Pageant – which so beautifully celebrated her life; and

3)   Remembering with the deepest pride of myself being received by His Royal Highness Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex and Her Majesty’s youngest on January 25th of this year, through my work at the Birmingham 2022 Festival.

This combination genuinely fills me up and will make the next few days one of the strangest to date; not least through point one as above. The realisation of loss over the last 8 ½ months has been truly hard to bear.

However, I will use this period to be thankful to have lived within a lifetime, of one of the greatest public servants who has ever and will ever grace Planet Earth, whose calm nature and cool headedness is an inspiration to so many.

My full thoughts and heartfelt sympathies; along with my colleagues on the West Midlands Young Combined Authorities, are with His Majesty The King, Camilla, Queen Consort and the full Royal Family at this period of mourning.

May one of the most extraordinary humans ever to have lived, forever be at peace and may God Save Our Gracious King."