Princess Anne visits mosque in Whitechapel for Commonwealth conference on global challenges

Princess Anne heard from Commonwealth business and community leaders about global challenges facing the Muslim community on her visit to the East London Mosque.

Princess Anne signs East London Mosque visitors' book. Picture: Rehan Jamil - Credit: East London Mosque Trust.

She joined 12 senior leaders on her visit to Whitechapel for the Commonwealth Study programme.

The one-day conference on Wednesday tackled challenges that businesses, governments and society face and to build the global relationships needed by the leaders of tomorrow.

The discussions highlighted challenges and opportunities of the mosque for the largest Muslim community in Britain, including creating a safe space for women.

Lucy Bushill Matthews spoke on emerging leadership about the barriers Muslim women and young people face and what can be done about them.

Princess Anne signs East London Mosque visitors' book. Picture: Rehan Jamil - Credit: East London Mosque Trust.

The mosque’s visitor centre would soon be able to host more events like the Commonwealth leadership conference to increase understanding between people of all faiths and none, the Princess Royal was told.

The princess also heard about the 100-year history of the mosque and visited some of the projects and services including the archives, the Al Mizan junior school, the observation beehive and the National Zakat Foundation which is housed in the recently acquired Great Fieldgate Street synagogue.