Portuguese Embassy – celebrating Carnation Revolution

I celebrated with the Portuguese community, the 25 April Carnation Revolution at the Portuguese Embassy on Wednesday 8 May 2024. The Carnation revolution so called because people threw carnations at the soldiers and tanks that rolled in to Lisbon to overturn 40 years of dictatorship.

Ambassador Nuno Britto and Stephen Hammond MP Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Portugal are pictured with me. 

Ambassador Britto spoke about the time when the Portuguese rose up to claim freedom on that day. He said democracy must be celebrated and is a work in progress. It is so important to ensure that there is democracy rather than dictatorship. We raised our glasses for a toast to Freedom.