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A Royal Audience
President Obama and Henson's Legacy
In 2011, Queen Elizabeth received President Obama at Buckingham Palace. Among significant historic items she arranged for him to view was material related to Josiah Henson's visit with Queen Victoria in 1877. About Henson's meeting, the Birmingham Daily Mail wrote: "He, the runaway slave, has lived to be entertained by Queen Victoria in her own royal castle. The whirligig of time does indeed bring about its revenges, and not the least of them is … the ceremony performed at Windsor yesterday."
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The journal of Queen Victoria was among multiple archival documents admired by Prince Philip, First Lady Michelle Obama, America's first African American president, Barack Obama, and Queen Elizabeth II, the great-great daughter of Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria wrote in her official diary about her meeting with Josiah Henson and his second wife Nancy on March 25, 1877 at Windsor Castle. During the visit, she reportedly remarked that she had read his autobiography "with much interest and pleasure."
One of Henson's prized possessions was this framed photograph of Queen Victoria she presented to him in 1877. |