Beauty queens of mixed heritage are no strangers to the Miss Universe stage. This includes reigning champion R'Bonney Gabriel, a Filipina-American who will crown her successor at the finale in El Salvador on Saturday.
The pageant-adoring Philippines often sends mixed-heritage representatives to Miss Universe. Pia Wurtzbach, who won in 2015, is part-German, while Catriona Gray has Scottish heritage and clinched the title in 2019.
This year, there are three contestants with Indian origins, plus Miss Universe India herself.
Miss Universe Guyana: Lisa Narine
The beauty queen represented the region of Pomeroon-Supenaam and her win marked Guyana's return to the Miss Universe stage after a five-year hiatus.
Narine is a radio show host and creative co-ordinator. She is also in her final year at the University of Guyana where she is studying international relations.
A frequent pageant joiner, Narine emerged as a runner-up at the Miss Global International in 2021. In the same year, she also competed in Miss India Guyana, a national contest for women from the Indian diaspora. She also represented her country at Miss Top Model International last year.
Miss Universe Singapore: Priyanka Annuncia
The Singaporean model has a degree in law and criminology from Murdoch University. She works as a private investigator, mostly dealing with human trafficking cases.
She has a clothing line and has worked as a boxing instructor and public speaking coach.
Annuncia's win made her the first beauty queen to represent Singapore at two major international pageants, Miss Universe this year and Miss Supranational in 2018, where she won various awards such as Miss Congeniality and Miss Photogenic.
Miss Universe South Africa: Bryoni Govender
Govender, who is considered front-runner in this year's Miss Universe pageant, was born in South Africa to parents of Indian descent.
The model and lawyer is the first beauty queen of Indian descent to represent South Africa since 1998 when Kerishnie Naiker represented the country in the contest.
At the time, Naiker's advocacy included putting a spotlight on the large population of South Africans of Indian ancestry.
During this year's national costume round, Govender sported a new take on a sari with Zulu beading and traditional tribal patterns, effectively fusing Indian and African motifs.
“It is an accurate reflection of who I am and represents my rich and diverse cultural heritage,” said Govender.
Miss Universe India: Shweta Sharda
No list would not be complete without Miss Universe India herself.
Shweta Sharda was born in Chandigarh and moved to Mumbai to follow her dreams of conquering the world of entertainment.
She has since appeared in several reality shows, including Dance India Dance and Dance Deewane. Her stint as a choreographer in the reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa led her to work with Bollywood stars including Deepika Padukone, Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif.
Shutting down naysayers
While mixed-race contestants exemplify a multicultural modern world, there are some sceptics of this beauty pageant trend.
When Gray won, critics were quick to question whether she was “Filipino enough”, mostly based on her looks. Responding to them, she said she was representing “the diverse Filipina beauty”.
“We are not just one kind of beauty any more, and if I can open up that conversation, that’s great,” Gray said in an interview with Philippines magazine Preview.
In 2015, Japan crowned its first Miss Universe representative with African-American heritage, Ariana Miyamoto, who faced the same criticisms for “not being Japanese enough”. Similar to Gray, the Japanese beauty queen used her position as a way to break antiquated cultural perceptions.
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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Day 5, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day When Dilruwan Perera dismissed Yasir Shah to end Pakistan’s limp resistance, the Sri Lankans charged around the field with the fevered delirium of a side not used to winning. Trouble was, they had not. The delivery was deemed a no ball. Sri Lanka had a nervy wait, but it was merely a stay of execution for the beleaguered hosts.
Stat of the day – 5 Pakistan have lost all 10 wickets on the fifth day of a Test five times since the start of 2016. It is an alarming departure for a side who had apparently erased regular collapses from their resume. “The only thing I can say, it’s not a mitigating excuse at all, but that’s a young batting line up, obviously trying to find their way,” said Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s coach.
The verdict Test matches in the UAE are known for speeding up on the last two days, but this was extreme. The first two innings of this Test took 11 sessions to complete. The remaining two were done in less than four. The nature of Pakistan’s capitulation at the end showed just how difficult the transition is going to be in the post Misbah-ul-Haq era.
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ARSENAL
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- League Cup - 2015
SPAIN
- World Cup - 2010
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