Royal Opera. Covent Garden. Gala Performance [of Gloriana] on the occasion of the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Monday 8th June 1953. Original programme and invitation to Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan.

Folio. 27 x 39.3 cm. and 14 x 17cm. .Programme and entry card. .Royal Guests and the British Aristocracy joined the Queen and members of the Royal Family for a splendid Coronation Gala Performance of 'Gloriana' at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden on this day in 1953.The artist Oliver Messel, was born into a wealthy family; he travelled extensively and was exposed to art and culture from a young age. A privileged youth, his name is often mentioned amongst the 'Bright Young Things', for whom costume parties at country houses and jaunts to Europe on a whim became a thing of fable. This informal group included people such as Cecil Beaton (a life-long friend whom Oliver first met at Eton), Lord Berners, Noel Coward, John Betjeman, Harold Acton, Nancy Mitford, Edith Sitwell, Stephen Tennant, Rex Whistler and Evelyn Waugh, who famously satirised their exploits in the 1930s novel Vile Bodies. Having witnessed WW1, the 20s and 30s were a time of new freedom for these wealthy, artistic group of high society friends and acquaintances, who knew only too well how short life could be.The personal copy of Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1905-1990), who was a Pakistani diplomat and the country's first female governor.She was born Sheila Irene Pant on 13 February 1905 in Almora, British India (today's India), to a Brahmin family who had converted to Christianity two generations prior.The personal copy of Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1905-1990), who was a Pakistani diplomat and the country's first female governor.Academically brilliant, she graduated from the University of Lucknow in 1927 with bachelor's degrees in economics and theology. She obtained a double master's degree in economics and sociology in 1929. In 1931, she became professor of economics at Indraprastha College in Delhi, where she met her future husband, lawyer Liaquat Ali Khan, when he visited to deliver a lecture on law.The couple married in 1932, despite her family's objection. The bride converted to Islam and took the name Begum Ra'ana. She became involved with the Muslim League, devoting herself to creating political consciousness among the Muslim women in British India.After the Partition in 1947, Liaquat Ali Khan became Pakistan's first prime minister. As the first First Lady of Pakistan, Begum Ra'ana founded or helped establish organisations that uplifted women's rights and women's public role, such as the Pakistan Women's National Guard (PWNG), the Women's Naval Reserves and All Pakistan Women's Association (APWA).