Where’s the President’s Trinity Cross?

AMIDST the pomp and splendour of the National Awards ceremony at President’s House on Sunday, no one noticed that President George Maxwell Richards was not wearing his Trinity Cross, which he received 48 hours earlier.

President Richards received the Trinity Cross in a private ceremony at President’s House on Friday. However, he did not wear the cross during Sunday’s ceremony at which Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma and Professor Ken Julien also received the nation’s highest award. Newsday learned that there was no protocol which says the President must wear the cross at all public functions and there were occasions when former President Noor Hassanali did not wear his cross in public. The President traditionally receives the Trinity Cross in private. President Richards’ presidential predecessors Arthur NR Robinson and Sir Ellis Clarke are reported to have worn their crosses regularly at public functions. All of the country’s presidents have been awarded the Trinity Cross. Newsday was reliably informed that Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his wife, Education Minister Hazel Manning, were among those present at Friday’s private ceremony.