Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu is a British nurse, health care administrator, lecturer, and Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of West London.
She’s a daughter to Onitsha born barrister and former Nigerian Ambassador to Italy and the Vatican, Lawrence Anionwu.
In 1979, Anionwu became the United Kingdom’s first sickle-cell and thalassemia nurse specialist, helping establish the Brent Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Counselling centre.
Anionwu, who was a Professor of Nursing at the time, established the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing
Practice at the University of West London in 1998.
She is a recipient of the Order of Merit, a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing
She was awarded the Order of Merit in 2022, named a BBC 100 Women of the Year in 2020 and made a Dame in 2017.
At King Charles’ coronation, she was nominated to carry the king’s gold orb. She is an accomplished professor emeritus.
The Sovereign’s Orb, originally commissioned from royal goldsmith Robert Vyner for the 1661 coronation of King Charles II, the Sovereign’s Orb represents the monarch’s power. The spherical shape and the cross topper is meant to symbolize a Christian world, while the three sections divided by bejeweled bands symbolize the three known continents during the medieval era.
The orb, made from a hollow gold globe, features several precious gemstones, including rose-cut diamonds, an octagonal step-cut amethyst, a table-cut sapphire, as well as clusters of emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and pearls.
