AGhanaian-born British soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah, was among the military men who escorted Queen Elizabeth II’s cortège on its final journey from Westminster Abbey to St. George’s Chapel.
He was the only Black officer among a group of over a dozen who marched alongside the cortège after the official funeral on September 19, 2022.
Former UK High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, was full of praise for Twumasi-Ankrah, who served as the late monarch’s Personal Assistant – as her equerry.
“Proud to see Her Late Majesty’s equerry, Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah, accompanying her coffin in today’s #sstatefuneral,” the diplomat tweeted on Monday.
Major Twumasi-Ankrah was appointed as Queen Elizabeth II’s equerry in 2017, making him the first black man to hold this position.
An equerry’s primary responsibility is to assist the monarch during official activities such as public visits and receptions at Buckingham Palace.
An equerry’s primary responsibility is to assist the monarch during official activities such as public visits and receptions at Buckingham Palace.
Twumasi-Ankrah supported Queen Elizabeth II at public events after Prince Phillip retired from public service.
Background
According to his military record, he is a member of the Household Cavalry and a veteran of the Afghan war.
He was born in Ghana in 1979 and moved to the United Kingdom with his parents when he was three years old, in 1982.
Twumasi-Ankrah attended Queen Mary University in London after finishing high school and then joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
He served in the military his entire life, having been commissioned by the Blues and Royals at the time. He was the first black African officer in the British Army’s Cavalry of the Household.
Major Twumasi-Ankrah said on camera for a documentary about Britain’s open and democratic society;
As a young child, watching her majesty the Queen’s birthday parade on television, I would have never imagined that one day I’d command the regiment which I’d fallen in love with.”
He added;
“From where I sit and from what I’ve seen in the UK, our cultures really do mix and intermingle, and if I’m not a good example of that I really don’t know what is.”