The Brazillian President, Jair Bolsonaro has on Thursday declared a full three days of national mourning in Brazil for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, who had kicked the bucket after 70 years on the throne.
The far-right president, who is also running for reelection next month, had announced in a note in the official gazette that the gesture was “in condolence for the death of her majesty the queen.”
Read Also: Britain Mourns As Queen Elizabeth II Kicks The Bucket At 96
Elizabeth II, Bolsonaro wrote on Twitter, was “a queen not just to Britons, but to all of us.”
“She was an extraordinary and singular woman whose example of leadership, humility and love of country will continue to inspire us and the world forever,” he added.
Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, does not have particularly close ties to Britain and as the presidential palace in Brasilia had lowered the flag to half-staff, some of the citizens have questioned whether the president had ulterior motives for the show of sympathy.
“I see Bolsonaro’s gesture as more linked to his voters’ preference for conservative themes, tradition and monarchy,” said political scientist Mauricio Santoro of Rio de Janeiro State University.
Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who leads Bolsonaro in opinion polls for Brazil’s October 2 elections, also tweeted his condolences.
“She left her mark on an entire era,” the leftist leader wrote, alongside a picture of him greeting Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace during a 2009 visit to London as president.
In another report, Britain has been thrown into serious mourning as Queen Elizabeth II who is the longest-serving monarch in British history and also a popular icon instantly recognisable to billions of people around the world, has finally kicked the bucket after a brief illness while she was aged 96.
The news of her death had been announced by the Buckingham Palace on Thursday.
Prince Charles who is the Prince of Wales and also the eldest of her four children at 73 is apparently the oldest heir apparent in the British history and therefore he becomes king of Britian immediately.
Africa Today News, New York