Miss England 2019 is hanging up her crown (for now) to focus on the coronavirus pandemic.
Bhasha Mukherjee, 24, was a junior doctor specializing in respiratory medicine before competing in the Miss World pageant on behalf of England in December 2019. Although continuing her work at the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, after taking home her Miss England sash, she had planned to put her medical career on hold to travel the world for various humanitarian efforts after her latest competition. However, four weeks into her ambassadorship in India on behalf of Coventry Mercia Lions Club, where she donated stationery to schools and gave money to a home for abandoned girls, news broke that COVID-19 was spreading rapidly back home in the United Kingdom.
After Mukherjee started receiving messages from former colleagues about the worsening situation at her hospital, she knew she had to pick up where she had left off. She told CNN she felt she needed to be more hands-on during the pandemic. “When you are doing all this humanitarian work abroad, you’re still expected to put the crown on, get ready…look pretty,” she said. “I wanted to come back home. I wanted to come and go straight to work.”
“I felt a sense of, This is what I’d got this degree for and what better time to be part of this particular sector than now?” she said. “It was incredible the way the whole world was celebrating all key workers, and I wanted to be one of those, and I knew I could help.”
On April 5, Queen Elizabeth II made a rare address to the British public, thanking health care and essential workers for their tireless effort responding to COVID-19.
“I want to thank everyone on the NHS front line, as well as care workers and those carrying out essential roles who selflessly continue their day-to-day duties outside the home in support of us all,” she said. “I’m sure the nation will join me in ensuring you that what you do is appreciated and every hour of your hard work brings us closer to a return to more normal times.”
The queen finished her speech with a hopeful message. “We can take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return,” she said. “We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again.”
On Wednesday, April 6, Mukherjee returned to England but still has to self-isolate for about two weeks before she can return to work as a doctor at the Pilgrim Hospital, where it’s all hands on deck, according to the pageant queen.
“There’s no better time for me to be Miss England and helping England at a time of need,” she said.
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