Press release – 16 May
Her Majesty The Queen has expressed her delight at remaining Patron of Westcountry-based disaster relief charity ShelterBox following a major review of more than a thousand patronages.
The review, conducted by the Royal Household, follows the late Queen’s death, with this week’s announcement marking the first anniversary of Their Majesties’ Coronation.
“Our volunteers, supporters, and staff will be brimming with pride that Her Majesty The Queen will continue to honour us with her patronage,” says ShelterBox Chief Executive, Sanj Srikanthan, responding to the news.
“It comes at a particularly poignant time for our charity as we approach our 25th anniversary.”
ShelterBox has supported almost three million people in around 100 countries since it was founded by a Cornish Rotary club in 2000.
Srikanthan adds: “With more people displaced around the world than ever before, and the need for shelter growing all the time, we’re looking ahead to the next 25 years, and it means so much to our community that Her Majesty continues to have faith and support in what we do.
“It also means we’re scaling up our work to reach more people and adapting the types of aid we provide in different responses.
“Often people don’t have time to recover from one disaster before the next one hits, so our commitment stands firm – listening to communities and providing emergency shelter to people uprooted from their homes.”
The Former Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall were first introduced to ShelterBox in 2006. While on an official visit to Pakistan, they learnt about the charity’s work supporting families who had lost their homes in the Kashmiri earthquake.
The charity specialises in emergency shelter aid, and no longer provides aid in green boxes – instead providing a combination of aid packaged in different ways to suit what people need.
That can mean tents, tarpaulins, and essential items like solar lights, mosquito nets, and water filters. But it can also mean building concrete bases in places that repeatedly flood like in Pakistan and Syria; providing hurricane strapping to make timber shelters more robust in the Philippines, using iron frames and fireproof insulation for shelters in Yemen, and in Burkina Faso, wooden frame Sahelian tents to withstand local climates.
Her Majesty has been a keen supporter of ShelterBox since 2006, including hosting receptions at Clarence House for the charity and prominently featuring them at the humanitarian reception at Buckingham Palace in 2023. Her Majesty has been welcomed to ShelterBox’s headquarters several times, including in 2017 when she cut a cake to mark her 70th birthday. Her Majesty’s well-known love of reading has also seen her supporting ShelterBox Book Club, writing a forward for Tamesis Street, a short story told by 30 authors about a fictional climate disaster in London.
ShelterBox, based in Truro, Cornwall, is currently responding to the conflict in Gaza and has a response team in Malawi where thousands of people have been affected by severe flooding.
Members of the Royal Family serve as Patrons of over 3,000 charities, military associations, professional bodies, and public service organisations across the UK, the Commonwealth, and the world.
ENDS
For more information contact the press office at ShelterBox via [email protected].
Notes to Editors
- Images and captions included.
- Interviews available with ShelterBox CEO Sanj Srikanthan.
- The Former Duchess of Cornwall was President of ShelterBox from August 2007 to May 2021, changing to Patron from May 2021 to September 2022.
About ShelterBox
ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and other essential items to families who have lost their homes to disasters. With operational headquarters in Cornwall, the charity also has 13 affiliate organisations worldwide. The charity has been Rotary International’s project partner in disaster relief since 2012. ShelterBox has supported more than 2.5 million people since it was founded in 2000. www.shelterbox.org
