KOCHI: As the world bids adieu to Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8, several members of the Jewish community in Kochi fondly recalled the visit by UK’s longest-serving monarch 25 years ago. Queenie Hallegua, 87, is one of them.
Queenie and her husband, late Sammy Hallegua, had hosted the Queen and her husband and then Duke of Edinburgh, late Prince Philip, when they came calling at the Paradesi Synagogue in Mattanchery in October 1997. It was during her third visit to India – she earlier visited the country in 1961 and 1983 – that the Queen came here.
“There’s a story behind the visit,” said Queenie. She said Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, the first Earl of Snowdon and husband of Princess Margaret, the sister of the Queen, had visited the synagogue first after hearing about it.
“The place was not in his itinerary and he came without any retinue. We would have missed him were it not for my son. A big fan of the British Royalty, he spotted the earl strolling towards the synagogue and told me,” she recalled.
Queenie believes that the earl, impressed by the synagogue and other sights at Mattanchery, told Princess Margaret about them and she, in turn, told Queen Elizabeth II to make sure that the latter went to Kochi on her next visit to India.
Queen’s visit was not in itinerary
Queenie said: “And she came. We were overjoyed.” Queenie said she and her husband, who was the warden of Paradesi synagogue, acted as the Queen’s guides. “She was impressed by the architecture and the history of the synagogue. When we told her that the tiles inside were 18th-century, hand-painted ones imported from Canton (Guangdong) in China, she exclaimed it was wicked to walk on them. My husband and I could not hide our smiles,” said Queenie.
During her six-hour visit, Queen Elizabeth II also went to the St Francis Church and Vasco da Gama’s tomb. She even saw the title deed of the church written on a palm leaf and dating back to 1503, besides the 18th-century Dutch marriage register kept in the church which is managed by the Church of South India.
The British press had later reported that the Queen had heard so much about the Jewish community of Cochin that she had insisted her aides arrange this out-of-the-itinerary visit.
On behalf of the Jews of Cochin, Queenie’s husband had presented the Queen with several gifts, including a silver salver, a replica of the 1,000-years-old copper plates granted by Kerala’s fabled emperor Cheraman Perumal to the Jews, an album of photographs, copies of valuable documents and a hand-stitched satin cap, said Queenie. “The Queen handed over a silver Kiddush (wine) cup to the synagogue on behalf of the people of the UK,” she said.