Royal recognition

A mail from Buckingham Palace addressed to "Miss Simone Marker and Family” in Bombay brought immense "pride and joy” to the household on November 23, 2022. It was over two months prior that Rohinton Marker, a partner in the family’s marine safety and rescue equipment manufacturing company, and his wife Delnaz, a lawyer by training, had dispatched a letter along with a painting of Queen Elizabeth II done spontaneously by their seven-year-old daughter Simone, within 20 hours of the monarch passing away on September 8.

Processing the media coverage on BBC News, Simone went to the desktop computer at home, Googled what she thought was a suitable image of the Queen and "unbeknownst to any of us in the family in the other rooms of our flat, sat quietly and unobtrusively to draw this likeness of HM QE II,” wrote Rohinton in his covering letter to King Charles III. The following day Simone drew yet another picture of the Queen. The excited parents decided to send by post the child’s efforts to King Charles III and then forgot about it until they received an envelope carrying a message signed by the King with a smiling photograph of him in his childhood in the company of his mother Elizabeth II. "It was so very kind of you to send me such a wonderfully generous message following the death of my beloved mother. Your most thoughtful words are enormously comforting, and I cannot tell you how deeply they are appreciated at this time of immense sorrow,” wrote the King.
The elated parents then shared the news with Benaifer Kutar, principal, and Ratna Mishra, headmistress of The J. B. Petit High School for Girls where Simone studies. Describing her illustrations as "utterly charming,” Kutar added, "I am sure this memento will be a wonderful keepsake that Simone will grow to treasure over the years… I wish her a happy, meaningful and fulfilling journey ‘Ever Forward (the motto of the School).’” Mishra encouraged Simone saying, "You are quite the artist… Remember Simone, this means that you should never shy away from expressing yourself confidently irrespective of what others may think or feel…”
Parinaz M. Gandhi