British Asian junior doctor crowned Miss England

A British Asian medic, who started her new job as a junior doctor on Friday (2), has been crowned Miss England 2019.

Bhasha Mukherjee, who moved to the UK from India with her parents aged 9, will compete in the 69th Miss World contest to be held in December in London.

The 23-year-old beauty from Derby started her new medical job at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, just hours after winning the contest in Newcastle Upon Tyne in North East England on Thursday night.

Mukherjee speaks five languages and has a Bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Nottingham.

"Bhasha is an incredibly hard-working young woman, an ideal candidate to represent the multicultural country of England," said Angie Beasley, director of the Miss England contest.

"Bhasha was sponsored by celebrity make-up artist Joggy Kang and wore a rose gold-beaded gown by designer Puneet Brandao," she added.

The pageant winners bagged over £30,000 worth of prizes, which include a luxury holiday to Mauritius.

Mukherjee, who speaks English, Bengali, Hindi, German and French, describes herself as studious with an IQ of 146.

She admits it was "quite difficult" to balance the Miss England contest with completing her medical finals this year.

"I'm very proud to be representing the south Asian community, minority populations and Derby," she said.

Mukherjee, who performed an Indian dance sequence for her talent round, has been running her own charity called the Generation Bridge Project since 2013, which supports Derby's elderly community with events like fun days and talent shows.

After modelling for seven years, she became one of just 55 contestants to reach the finals of the Miss England pageant from more than 22,000 entries.

Last month, the Miss England 2019 pageant hit the headlines as one of the first to launch a new make-up free round, with the winner of the 'bare face top model' contest being fast-tracked to the final round of 20 women vying for the overall title.

As part of their entries, the women had to wear no make-up and also had to post the photo on social media with the message to celebrate natural beauty.