The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust Reception

Her Majesty The Queen hosted an evening reception to celebrate the work of The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. 

The Trust was set up by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 2012 with two main goals: to help prevent avoidable blindness and to empower a new generation of young leaders. Its mission is to leave a lasting legacy owned by the whole Commonwealth, in honour of Her Majesty. The Trust's work will end as planned in 2020. 

View a history of The Trust here

In its lifetime, The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust has helped more than 22 million people in Africa and the Pacific receive vital antibiotics to combat trachoma - the world's leading infectious cause of blindness.  It has provided sight saving surgery to over 104,000 people suffering with trachoma trichiasis and ensured almost 19,200 people have received treatment to prevent the loss of sight due to diabetes. 

At the evening reception, The Queen and The Countess of Wessex, as Vice Patron of The Trust, met staff, supporters, partners and beneficiaries - including frontline ophthalmologists and eye health professionals from across the Commonwealth. to applaud and thank them for their tireless efforts to ensure that countless people across the Commonwealth have received vital treatments and early interventions to save and restore sight.

...Then there are the technical experts and advocates who created the strategies and methods by which the Trust would operate, and of course we must also pay tribute to the many eye doctors and nurses who have worked tirelessly to ensure that as many people as possible receive vital treatments and early interventions the Trust has made available.

The Countess of Wessex gave a speech at the reception, reflecting on the incredible work the Trust has supported in just five years and the legacy it leaves in the millions of people benefiting from the work. The Countess also spoke about how the Trust, set up in The Queen’s name, has demonstrated Her Majesty’s dedication and affection for the Commonwealth in a tangible and practical way. Read The Countess of Wessex’s speech in fu​ll here.