Queen Elizabeth II was mother to the world, says Leeds carnival founder

Queen Elizabeth II visited Chapeltown in Leeds in 1990

The founder of one of Europe's longest-running carnivals said Queen Elizabeth II will be remembered as a "mother to the world".

Arthur France MBE, who started the Leeds West Indian Carnival in 1967, met her three times, including during her 1990 visit to Chapeltown in the city.

The Queen, the UK's longest-serving monarch, died on Thursday afternoon aged 96.

Each meeting was a "memory you will never ever forget", Mr France said.

The Leeds West Indian Carnival attracts thousands of people in Chapeltown and Harehills during the August bank holiday weekend each year.

The 2022 event saw a carnival of 800 performers dance through the streets, with its trademark costumes catching the Queen's eye during a 2002 Golden Jubilee visit.

Arthur France MBE says he met Queen Elizabeth II three times, with each meeting 'a memory you will never ever forget'

Mr France, 85, said: "I don't think there will ever be anyone who commands the amount of respect and love that she has.

"Each time it was a joy to meet this beautiful, nice lady who made everyone feel comfortable and valued."

Mr France said she "made every member of the Commonwealth feel valued".

"These are qualities you are born with, you just cultivate them - they made her what she was and what she did," he said.

"She was the Queen of England but was a mother to the world."

The Leeds West Indian Carnival has been a highlight of the city's events calendar since the mid-1960s

Her 1990 visit to Chapeltown, which is home to a large Caribbean community, saw her meeting crowds, taking in a dance performance and a lunch of avocado mousse and poached salmon.

Heather Paul, whose mother Gertrude organised the visit, said: "[My mother] was terminally ill at the time, but she set her mind to it as a goal she wanted to achieve within a short time-frame and it was achievable.

"She got a letter back and it was great to have the whole community involved."

Francine Wisdom said the Queen's visit to Chapeltown to meet its residents 'was the most important thing'

Gertrude Paul, Leeds' first black head teacher, moved to Leeds from St Kitts in the 1950s and died aged 57 in 1992.

Francine Wisdom, Gertrude's sister, said: "All the people from the West Indies held the Queen in high regard, she was their Queen.

"To actually see her in the flesh, meet her and for her to come to Chapeltown, that was the most important thing."

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Sharon Watson MBE, chief executive of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Chapeltown, choreographed the dance lesson the Queen watched that day.

"Of course, those that came from the Caribbean understood who she was and that connection with the Queen and the Commonwealth," she said.

"There is a loyalty there, there's a real sense that she was the leader and is guiding the countries, so that respect has always been there."

She added: "Even with my parents, there's a feeling that she has paved the way for so many so you show her that respect."