Beauty queen goes from tear gas to tiaras

A beauty queen who fled violence in Zimbabwe and came to the UK said representing her current home country was an "absolute honour".

Natalie Mageza, from Stone, Staffordshire, moved to England when she was 13 to escape violence during former Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe's 37-year reign.

The 26 year-old said the final straw for her was when she and her family "got tear-gassed in a church because our area did not vote correctly".

Thirteen years on, the winner of the Universal Woman Great Britain pageant said she could not be more grateful to represent the UK in an international version of the competition in India.

She told BBC Radio Stoke: "It is so crazy because as someone that moved to the UK at such a young age as a refugee, I grew up watching pageants and I was very ionate about them.

"For me to then move to this country and be able to represent this country that I have been able to make my home, that has given me so many opportunities, is incredible."

Ms Mageza was crowned Great Britain Universal Woman in 2024 and said she was apprehensive when she first got discovered.

She said a pageant director commented on how beautiful she was and asked her about modelling, while she was at college studying performing arts.

She added: "At first I was like 'what sort of pyramid scheme is this that I am about to get myself into">England captain Ben Stokes says his pre-match comments about Jacob Bethell coming straight back into the England team to play India were "twisted to suit an agenda". The 21-year-old's return for the five Tests against India could come at the expense of Ollie Pope, but Stokes says Pope - who scored 171 against Zimbabwe - is a "very important player" in the team.