Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girls’ education campaigner who has found international fame since being shot by Taliban militants last year, met with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen and Prince Philip invited the young activist to a reception at Buckingham Palace, where they met and chatted for a short time.
Malala Yousafzai, who was accompanied by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, presented the Queen with a copy of her newly published memoir, titled I am Malala.
“It’s nice to meet you and it’s a great honor coming here, and I wanted to present you my book,” Malala Yousafzai said when she met the Queen.
Queen Elizabeth responded: “That’s very kind of you. Thank you very much indeed.”
Malala Yousafzai, 16, said she hoped the two could work together to make sure all children receive an education, not just in Pakistan, but in the UK, too.
“I hope that we will all work together for the education of every child, and especially in this country as well, because I have heard about many children that cannot go to school,” said the Queen.
“So I hope that we will continue our work on youth empowerment.”
Prince Philip made a joke about children and education when meeting Malala Yousafzai at the palace.
“It’s one thing about children going to school,” he said, “they go to school because their parents don’t want them in the house.”
In an interview with CNN last week, Malala Yousafzai joked that she was going “because it’s the order of the Queen, it’s the command.”
Malala Yousafzai has been based in Britain since she was rushed there for major surgery after the Taliban shot her in the head in her native Pakistan because of her efforts to promote girls’ education.
Last Friday, as the world marked the International Day of the Girl, Malala Yousafzai met President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House.
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