Senior royal aide receives honorary doctorate
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Published
07 September 2023
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The Director of Community Engagement to Their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla, Eva Omaghomi, received an honorary doctorate in Community Engagement from the University of East London today. She was presented with the award by UEL’s Vice Chancellor and President, Professor Amanda Broderick, at a ceremony at the University’s Docklands campus.
UEL graduate Eva Omaghomi’s 20-year-career in communications and diplomatic relations on behalf of the Royal Household has seen her work on a host of global events. These have included US Presidential visits, UN climate change conferences, the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and numerous Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings.
In 2021, she was appointed Director of Community Engagement to Their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla. Her new role takes forward Their Majesties’ work with minority groups in the UK, global majority populations in the Commonwealth and globally, building on a legacy stretching back decades.
Ms Omaghomi graduated from UEL with a BSc in Anthropology in 1999.
Speaking to the graduates at the ceremony, she said,
I am very proud to have been given this honour, and to be an alumnus of this University. It was unthinkable to me at the time as a student that I would live this full circle moment.”
Giving advice to today’s graduates, Ms Omaghomi said, “Don’t be afraid to take up space. All of your cultural background experiences that make up your life will be valuable. What is key is what you think of yourself. Respect, faith and community are key. I myself am still learning. I still have doubt, fear and uncertainty, but I have faith.
“As you continue to grow in yourself and your confidence about your culture and who you are, you will start to see growth and promotion.”
Eva said studying anthropology at UEL taught her understanding different cultures is key to good communication, an insight underpinned by her own experiences as an immigrant to the UK.
“During my studies at UEL, the idea of questioning and understanding culture was really important. We all had a really good way of facing the lens back on Britain and the West and not seeing it as a central barometer of the norm,” she reflected.
After her Masters, Ms Omaghomi worked her way up to Press Officer at City Hall under then-Mayor Ken Livingstone.
She moved on to become a Press Officer at Clarence House, working for the then Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Prince Harry, taking on the international relations and Commonwealth brief in the press office.
Ms Omaghomi was promoted to Assistant Press Secretary, then Deputy Press Secretary, before going on secondment to The Prince's Trust for two years. There she worked as Senior Strategic Adviser for the Commonwealth, helping to launch the trust globally.
Ms Omaghomi was then asked to come back to Clarence House to take up the newly created role of Director of Community Engagement, her current role. She has travelled to over 50 countries with The King. Amongst her proudest moments was accompanying The King to Nelson Mandela’s Funeral in South Africa.
In 2017 she was invested as a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth for services to the Royal Family. She is also an ordained Christian minister.
