LONDON: Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has received the knighthood award from His Majesty King Charles III in recognition of his service to the capital.
In a heart-warming statement following the investiture ceremony held on Tuesday at Buckingham Palace, Sir Sadiq reflected on his journey from a council estate in Tooting to becoming the first non-white, Muslim of Pakistani origin — Mayor of London and now a Knight of the Realm.
“The London promise: if you work hard, and get a helping hand, you can achieve anything,” said Sir Sadiq who spent his early days in Tooting, just seven miles southwest of Buckingham Palace, where the investiture ceremony was held.
“Growing up on a council estate in Tooting, I never could have imagined that I’d one day receive this great honour while serving as the Mayor of London.”
The 54-year-old son of Pakistani immigrants — his father a bus driver and his mother a seamstress — Sadiq’s story has long been held up as a symbol of Britain’s social mobility. Trained as a human rights lawyer, he entered politics, joining the Labour Party.
He was first elected as a councillor in 1994 for London’s Borough of Wandsworth. He served as councillor till 2006 just after he was elected as Labour member of Parliament for Tooting in 2005. Though he was very critical of then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s policies specially the decision to invade Iraq but post Blair has risen through the ranks. He was appointed “Parlimentary under secretary of states for communities and local government” and later became “Transport Minister” under Gordon Brown. He also served as shadow cabinet member under next Labour leader Ed Milliband.
But the finest and proudest moment of his career was in 2016 when he was elected as Mayor of London. He made history not just as the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital, but also for his relentless focus on inclusivity, social justice, and climate action.
He was re-elected in 2021 and again in 2024 for an unprecedented third term, after he campaigned on making London “fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous for everyone.”
“This is a truly humbling moment for myself and my family,” he said of the knighthood. “I hope it inspires others to believe in the incredible opportunities that our great capital offers.”
A practising Muslim, Sir Sadiq Khan is happily married to Saadiya Ahmed a solicitor since 1994 and has two daughters. In 2018 he was also conferred Sitara-e-Pakistan for his services to Pakistan by then President Mamnoon Hussain.
