- He was in the palace to be awarded with the Order of the British Empire in 2003 for his philanthropic work.
- When it was his turn to be adorned with the medal by the Queen, his interaction with her turned the rule on its head.
Image: JUDICIARY/X
Manu Chandaria is known for his business acumen and philanthropy, and maybe, this ability to make good judgement, is what he employed at Buckingham Palace to make the tense mood light.
Chandaria grabbed the attention of the room at the Palace after striking up a conversation with Queen Elizabeth II (deceased), reminding the royal of her time in Kenya in 1952.
The instruction to guests at the function was to maintain pin drop silence and not talk, unless spoken to. This set a dull environment where chuckles were not heard.
But not Chandaria, his conversation with the Queen lightened the mood and reset the environment to be jovial.
He was in the palace to be awarded with the Order of the British Empire in 2003 for his philanthropic work.
When it was his turn to be adorned with the medal by the Queen, his interaction with her turned the rule on its head.
Chandaria says in his autobiography 'Success to Significance', that the question to him about where he came from is what changed his experience during the special occasion.
“Where do you come from?” the monarch asked him.
“The country your majesty visited as a princess and returned to the UK as the Queen.”
“Her face lit up as she smiled and exclaimed: “Oh, Kenya! Is the Treetops still there?” the book records the monarch’s response.
The Treetops the Queen was asking about, was a famous hotel in Nyeri, where in 1952 aged 25, she had lodged in as a princess.
It was during her stay at the hotel that she became Queen of England upon the death of her father King George VI.
The conversation struck by Chandaria’s response triggered the Queen’s memory of her filming rhinos, warthogs and elephants at a water hole about 10 yards away.
OBE is the second of the three most well-known appointments to the prestige of the British empire.
The book says the communication from the Nairobi British embassy at the time, informing about and inviting Chandaria to accept the award, said it was “in recognition of his work for the British community in Kenya and his promotion of the Kenyan and British economic interests.”
“I found it hard to believe that the British community in Kenya and the High Commissioner would recommend me for an honour by the Queen. But I was equally delighted because while a few Indians had received MBEs, no one in our community had been honoured with an OBE. I was the first," reads the book in part.
"Clearly somebody among the British nationals in Kenya regarded me highly. It was a great, great honour and recognition of my work.”
The book says the motivation of the young engineering graduate from the State University of Oklahoma to delve into social work was from Ford, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and the Carnegie foundation.
Chandaria, now 96, is one of the most decorated Kenyans, having bagged many honorary doctorates from many universities in the country.
In addition he has received awards locally and abroad.
University of Nairobi started off the honorary degree streak in 1997, giving the honorary Doctor of Science degree.
KeMU and Technical University of Kenya followed suit 12 years and 16 years later in 2009 and 2013 respectively, giving him the same degree.
Kenyatta University also gave him the Humane letters in 2013.
KCA University granted him the Doctor of Humane Letters in Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy in 2018.
Unicaf University is the latest to confer him with an honorary doctorate in 2023.
The UoN’s doctorate was in recognition of his “outstanding achievements in the industrial, manufacturing and business sector and for his contribution to the economy.”
As at the time, Chandaria had been on the university’s council for 25 years.