On May 21, the UK-based The King’s Foundation announced 25 nominees for this year’s awards that “recognise and celebrate the work and contributions of students, graduates, teachers, partners and collaborators associated with charity, which aims to build sustainable communities and transform lives across the world”.
Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus’ name did not figure in this list. The list has not been updated since May 21.
Now, hours before Yunus is to fly out to Britain late tonight, Bangladesh’s acting Foreign Secretary Ruhul Alam Siddique announced that “in recognition of his global contributions, Yunus has been nominated by King Charles III for the ‘King Charles III Harmony Award 2025’, honouring his lifelong work to promote peace, sustainability, and harmony between people and the environment”.
To add a sense of awe, Siddique said, “The award will be conferred at a formal ceremony at St James’s Palace in London on June 12”.
It is now coming to light that on April 28, during his two-day visit to Doha, Qatar, for the Earthna Summit, Yunus met Kristina Murrin, the CEO of The Royal Highness King Charles Foundation. Was Yunus’ name considered for the award at this luncheon meeting which was also attended by SpaceX Vice-President Lauren Dreyer and Bangladesh National Security Adviser (NSA) Khalilur Rahman?
It was at this meeting that the loose ends in Starlinks’ commercial launch in Bangladesh were tied up and the decision was taken to pull out all stops to have Elon Musk’s internet service company begin functioning in earnest.
The King’s Foundation website says that “Nominees this year include Maro Itoje and his Akoje Residency for International Impact, the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation for Community Partnership of the Year, influencer Alice Loxton for Advocate of the Year and up-and-coming milliner Emily Hurst and embroidery graduate Beth Somerville, who was recently commissioned by HM Queen Camilla to re-embroider her wedding coat, for Emerging Talent”.
And yet, under the Emerging Talent category, the names listed as recipients are Emily Hurst, Neil Cunningham and Ruadh Thomson. Beth Somerville features as an award nominee under the Young Entrepreneur category.
The other nominees under the Young Entrepreneur category are Barnaby Horn, Jacob Marks and Emma Rose Allen. In the International Impact category, the nominees are The Fashion Council Germany, The Akoje Residency and The Commonwealth Association of Architects. Leaving aside Loxton, the two other nominees under the Advocate of the Year category are Tony Singh and Patrick Holden.
Besides this, Vibrant Communities Service, The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation and the Auchinleck Primary School are the nominees in the Community Partnership of the Year category. In the Corporate of the Year category, the nominees are Patagonia, Pukka Tea and Scottish Power.
Claudia Penaranda Fuentes, Samantha Buckley and Robert Fawcett have been nominated for the Teaching Award category, while Yasmin Lari, Timorous Beasties and Ammar Jimman will be given the award under the Innovation in Practice category.
Now, was Murrin’s meeting with Yunus aimed at discussing with him the details about her organisation’s decision to confer him with a recognition under a new Harmony Award category? Or was the decision taken in Doha not properly conveyed to the organisers who made no changes to the list published on May 21? Or were there other considerations?
