As visitors filed into Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III, a younger man carrying a ceremonial gown of blue and gold beneath a glinting chain of workplace walked up the central aisle and took a first-rate seat by the choir.
He was the Proper Worshipful Lord Mayor of Westminster. And he was extraordinarily nervous. Within the automobile, he’d combed his beard and checked his outfit a number of instances earlier than making his grand entrance.
“You’re in entrance of tens of millions — you possibly can’t afford to place a step unsuitable,” Hamza Taouzzale recalled just lately.
Simply 22 on the time of his appointment as lord mayor final 12 months, he’s the youngest ever, and the primary Muslim, to carry the ceremonial position, which serves as a type of good-will ambassador for Westminster and its residents. He represents the world, which covers a lot of central London, at civic occasions with all of the pomp and protocol that comes with the title, which was created by Queen Elizabeth II by letters patent in 1966.
From the second he was sworn in, Mr. Taouzzale, who grew up in a single-parent family in public housing within the British capital, was catapulted right into a world of energy and privilege.
Along with a stipend of 24,000 kilos ($30,600), he was given a capacious workplace; a researcher; a diary supervisor; and a macebearer, who doubled as his chauffeur and etiquette information for high-profile public engagements, many at Buckingham Palace.
The primary funeral he attended in his life? Queen Elizabeth’s in September.
“You get to see a spread of various existence,” Mr. Taouzzale stated. “Westminster is a story of two cities,” he added. “You’ve gotten excessive wealth and excessive poverty.”
Westminster’s borders embrace a few of Britain’s most well-known landmarks, just like the Homes of Parliament, the Abbey and Buckingham Palace. It’s additionally house to greater than 250,000 residents, dwelling in each a few of the nation’s most costly actual property in addition to in public housing, the place many depend on meals banks — a distinction that the opposition Labour Occasion has referred to as a “disaster of inequality.”
Mr. Taouzzale nonetheless lives within the residence he grew up in. “My grandmother got here to Westminster in her early 20s from Morocco,” he stated. “My mom grew up on this property, and I used to be born and raised right here. It’s a giant a part of who I’m.”
Energetic in native politics since 16, he was elected, at 18, as a Labour member of the Westminster Metropolis Council, earlier than incomes each a B.A. and an M.A. in politics. He hopes to make use of his council seat as a steppingstone to nationwide workplace, with a watch on coming into Parliament.
The council, whose greater than 50 members have accountability for a variety of authorities providers together with council housing, trash assortment and visitors, chooses the lord mayor for every one-year time period.
Mr. Taouzzale stated he was shocked to be chosen, because the submit normally goes to councilors within the autumn of their careers.
“I believe it was an announcement: an indication that the Metropolis of Westminster is transferring ahead,” he stated. “Earlier than me there wasn’t a single lord mayor who wasn’t from an English or white background.”
He added, “I believe it was an indication that the Metropolis is changing into extra progressive.”
Mr. Taouzzale stated he made a degree of attending occasions in his house district, Westminster North, since residents in that densely packed, lower-income space felt it was all the time neglected. “Rising up, I had no concept who the lord mayor was — I had by no means seen them. I wished to alter that.”
Most lord mayors have had a accomplice or partner to behave as their official consort. Mr. Taouzzale took his mom, aunt and grandmother to massive occasions at Buckingham Palace; youthful siblings, associates and fellow councilors accompanied him to different appearances.
“I did completely something and every thing,” he stated. “Even when I didn’t really feel prefer it that day, even the unglamorous stuff.”
Mr. Taouzzale’s formal engagements commenced with the Platinum Jubilee final June, celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne. At a night live performance, he discovered himself seated within the royal field straight in entrance of Boris Johnson, then the prime minister, and simply behind the Prince and Princess of Wales.
It was a pinch-me second. Mr. Taouzzale was taking surreptitious photographs of the worldwide figures round him and the crowds beneath as a private memento, or a sort of proof of attendance, when somebody tapped him frivolously on the shoulder and whispered: “You don’t should take photos, . You’ll be on tv.”
It usually felt, Mr. Taouzzale stated, as if he was main a surreal double life.
“I’d go to a very posh, fancy dinner at a members’ membership or a personal residence, the place everybody would appear to already know one another, they’re on this circle, after which I’d go house and be like, ‘Wait a minute, did I actually simply do this?’”
Amid all of the pomp and ceremony — at most occasions, he was the highest-ranking individual in attendance, forward of even generals, and the final to enter a room (“actually bizarre,” he stated) — got here occasional etiquette snags.
“What fork or knife to make use of was tough at first,” Mr. Taouzzale stated. “I by no means used to have a couple of fork or one knife on the desk, and instantly I had three of every. It was like, what do I do?”
The months as lord mayor glided by in a blur. He oversaw the slicing of Britain’s nationwide Christmas tree in Norway and switched on its lights in Trafalgar Sq. alongside Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor.
“Hamza Taouzzale’s latest time period as Lord Mayor of Westminster is emblematic of the energy of London’s variety,” Mr. Khan stated.
Being the primary Muslim to carry the position required some negotiating, as a part of the lord mayor’s job contains talking recurrently on the Abbey, an Anglican church.
“Each time I did a studying on the Abbey, we had to spend so much of time with the dean to determine what the correct studying was,” he stated. “I’m a religious Muslim, I’m not going to cover my religion to learn one thing that I don’t agree with, or don’t suppose is correct. So we all the time needed to discover a verse someplace within the Bible, or a studying, that may match my non secular understanding.”
Now that the brand new lord mayor has been sworn in — Mr. Taouzzale has needed to return the robes, the workplace and the automobile with its coveted WE 1 license plate — he’s considering of the long run and searching for a job, because the councilor place is part-time solely, paying about $11,500.
He hopes his time period as lord mayor motivates Westminster’s subsequent era.
“Rising up in my space, I didn’t really feel like we have been allowed to have any constructive aspirations. They have been shut down fairly early on,” he stated. “When you had a good job, individuals can be like ‘oh, you’re fortunate. Oh, you’re fortunate you went to college.’ Why isn’t that the naked minimal? Why isn’t it the usual?”
He added: “Hopefully, I’ve been in a position to encourage individuals. I hope they’ll say, ‘properly, if Hamza’s executed it, I can do this as properly.’”
Author: ” — www.nytimes.com ”