V. S. Naipaul was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. Many centuries ago, Sir Walter Raleigh received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth I in 1585. Sir V. S. Naipaul was in a long line of those who received the Order of the British Empire from the West Indies, both pre- and post-independence. In 1989, he was also awarded the Trinity Cross by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. He called the latter the ‘greatest award’ in his life. He was happy that he received this award before the announcement by the British Queen. It made the award special in a personal way. On his way back to London from Trinidad after receiving the Trinity Cross (now the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago), Naipaul spoke to reporters at the Diplomatic Lounge at the Piarco International Airport in Trinidad. Suren Capildeo, the son of Simbhoonath Capildeo and Naipaul’s cousin brother, had recently voiced concerns regarding the continued political alienation of Indians in Trinidad. Naipaul, in response to a question, said: ‘The seeds of that (political alienation) were sown a long, long time ago in the (19)30s and 40s with the extraordinary pettiness of Indian political life and I think we’re paying the price of that pettiness’ (Cuffie 1990, p. 1). He refuted the claims of racial hostility by stating, ‘I don’t see a lot of (racial) tension here. I see a lot more community of interest and culture than most places. We certainly share a language, we share pleasures, we share an economy very much. […] I think a lot of it is in the head’ (Cuffie 1990, p. 1). This was a rare instance of Naipaul speaking benignly rather than nostalgically about Trinidad.

In Trinidad, there is a distinct bonhomie between the different races and religions, and in general, a creolised culture exists. However, this bonhomie is intermittently broken, as it was when a coup was attempted and the Trinidad Parliament was held under siege for six days in July and August of 1990. The political coup was a simultaneous attack on the Trinidad and Tobago parliament, the police headquarters, the National Broadcasting Service, Radio Trinidad and the Trinidad and Tobago Television station.