Vice President Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior speaks at the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee celebration in Juba. | 2nd June 2022. |Credit: Kafuki Jada.

This year, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom becomes the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee after marking 70 years on the throne.

The unprecedented anniversary was marked with four days of celebrations, events, and initiatives in the UK, Realms, and the Commonwealth countries.

On June 1, last week, Britons in Juba, celebrated the Queen’s Platinum milestone which coincided with her 96th birthday.

The event was graced with a sparking dance party and speeches that reflected on the Queen’s 70 years on the throne and what it means to the Sudanese, perhaps the South Sudanese people.

Last month, Deputy UK Ambassador in Juba described the Queen as a selfless leader who has South Sudan at her heart.

Ambassador Gill Lever said Queen Elizabeth shared a feeling of great sympathy for the South Sudanese people during the time of struggle for independence.

“The Queen shares with South Sudanese people a profound belief in God. SO she would feel great sympathy for you [South Sudanese] at the earliest time of of your history, and she said everyone is your neighbor no mater what their race or color is,” the US diplomat said during an Eye Radio talk show.

But, what do South Sudanese recall about Queen Elizabeth?

A  rare and exciting chronicle has been revealed, that a special hotel room was reserved for Queen Elizabeth in Juba during her visit to the Sudan more than 70 years ago.

On the 8^th February 1965, young Elizabeth landed in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and was received by a mammoth crowd at a time of great political tensions and turmoil.

An article by a British government affiliated website put it that the streets of Omdurman were lined with crowds who gathered to welcome Her Majesty.

“Everywhere she went, the Queen was met with greetings and performances, accompanied by the familiar Sudanese chant ‘Abshir’,” reads part of the article.

Elizabeth spent her first day at the Khartoum race course before flying out to Damazin to see the construction of the Roseires dam and to visit parts of the Gezira project in Medani, a project that had been set up by the British government.

The Queen reportedly intended to visit then second largest Sudanese city, now the South Sudanese capital Juba.

However, she was not able to make it due to a volatile security situation described by turbulence in the Southern region.

Meanwhile, a special room was reserved at the Equatoria Hotel, reportedly the best hotel in Juba that time.

Meanwhile, the Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster, who attended the Queen’s birthday party this year, suggested that the hotel room reserved for Queen Elizabeth during her visit to the Sudan preserved for Archives.

Rebecca Nyandeng reportedly told Governor Emmanuel Adil of Central Equatoria State to make sure that the room is cleared and only left for ‘our archives’ in the Queens name.

“I talked to the governor Emmanuel Adil so that we preserve that room so that room is there in Hai-Malakal for our archives it was said to be the room visited in 1965,” Nyandeng said.

Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne at the age of 21 after the death of her father King George in 1952.

The vice president and wife of the late Founding Father Dr. John Garang De Mabior said she was too young to remember the details of the event.

However, she said she has a special respect to the British monarch.

VP Nyandeng described Queen Elisabeth II and the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher as her role models.

However, she jokingly said being the first female vice president means she has already climbed the ladder of the country’s top leadership.

For his part the UK ambassador to South Sudan Johnny Baxter told the Jubilee party attendants it is unfortunate that the Queen could not visit Juba.

“Sadly she is unable to visit South Sudan now although she did visit Sudan in 1965, however in many ways the address of her majesty made to united nations general assembly in 2010 is welcomed to South Sudan,” said Mr. Baxter.