Intriguing India - Part V: The More Recent Royal Tours

After our latest post in the Intriguing India series (you can find the previous posts here: Part I, Part II and Part III), which looked back at the official visits undertaken by the Queen, with less than a week to go before the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge depart for Mumbai, it's now time to take a closer look at more recent royal visits, starting with the one made by the Prince and Princess of Wales in February 1992. Prior to the 1992 tour, Prince Charles had already been to India on his own three times: to New Delhi in 1975, in 1980 when he met Mother Teresa and representing the Queen at the funeral of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991.

 

The Prince of Wales with Mother Teresa in Calcutta in 1980. It was during this tour that the Prince visited the Taj Mahal and vowed to return one day with his bride. As it happened, the planned visit with Princess Diana didn't go ahead.

Princess Diana wore many magnificent gowns and colourful dresses during the 1992 tour. Below, in a black silk crepe and diamante paste embroidery Catherine Walker evening dress and the Spencer family tiara at a banquet given by Indian Vice-President Shankar Dayal Sharma:

The dress was later sold at the 1997 auction:

 

Receiving a warm welcome from a group of Indian dancers in Hyderabad. The Cambridges' tour will undoubtably provide similar photo opportunities, as per the official press release, they'll see dance and musical performances during their visit to Kaziranga National Park in the state of Assam:

 

 

The Princess met the sisters of Mother Teresa's mission at a shelter for the sick and the homeless in Calcutta:

 

The royal couple posing with the Presidential guard in Delhi:

 

 

Probably the most iconic look from the tour was another Catherine Walker creation: an evening gown of pink wild silk with a long-sleeved bolero jacket. The dress and bolero both have bodices embroidered with sequins, glass beads and gold braid, echoing Mughal embroidery motifs in a sort of diplomatic dressing nod to the host country which we'll surely see repeated in some way or another during the coming tour. The dress was among those auctioned by Christie's in 1997:

 

 

The Princess wore the gown with her emerald and diamond drop earrings...may I just take this opportunity to mention that this tour would be the perfect occasion for Catherine to repeat the stunning emerald demi-parure she debuted in New York City? ;-)

 

A joint visit to the Taj Mahal had been planned, but Prince Charles was due to attend a business leaders's forum in Bangalore, so the Princess ended up going on her own, and the press had a field day with pictures of her sitting alone on a bench in front of the mausoleoum just three days before Valentine's Day. The cracks in the Wales's marriage where already there for all to see. Before stopping at the Taj Mahal, she'd visited children at a Marie Stopes centre in Agra (above).

 

 

The Prince of Wales returned to India on his own eleven years later, in October/November 2003, when he visited New Delhi, Jodhpur, Jaipur and Mumbai. In March 2006 he visited for the first time with the Duchess of Cornwall:

The couple have since returned twice, in October 2010 to attend the Commonwealth Games in Delhi (shown below with President of India Her Excellency Pratibha Devisingh Patil):

and most recently in November 2013. Prince Charles celebrated his 65th birthday on tour, with a party at the British High Commission in Delhi:

Meeting dancers from the Kerala Folklore Theatre and Museum who performed for the royal couple.

As for other members of the Royal Family, the Duke of York undertook a tour of India in 2012 to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Widely criticized at the time as he flew by private jet, with costs being met by the taxpayer, the tour didn't get off to a particularly auspicious start:

 

Listening to a guide on a visit to the Dharavi slum in Mumbai.

 

The Duchess of York has visited a number of times, both privately to attend a wedding in Rajasthan and in her capacity as founder of Key to Freedom, a business structure for women in vulnerable situations in India who can sell their wares through the British retailer Topshop. She and Princess Eugenie visited together in 2012:

 

 

The Countess of Wessex undertook a trip to India in September 2013 with sight-saving charity ORBIS, and met with children who have been helped by the charity:

 

 

I very much hope you enjoyed this cavalcade through centuries of Anglo-Indian relations!

And now, with only a matter of days left before the start of this latest tour, I'm sure we can all look forward to many more fabulous photo opportunities, glitzy gowns and, in the words of the press release, new memories!

 

 

Regal in Red: the Queen Leads the Royal Family at the Sandringham Christmas Service

First of all, let me say a big Merry Christmas to all of you who are celebrating today!
We're back with our traditional Christmas Day post here at Books, Birkins & Beauty (you can read about last year's Christmas here, 2013 here and 2012 here), for a recap of what the Royals wore in years past!

As usual, the Royals are spending the festive period in Norfolk. The Queen is reportedly hosting at least 29 family members at Sandringham this year (although, unfortunately, no chances of a white Christmas, as the weather has been remarkably mild this year!), while the Cambridges are staying nearby at their newly-refurbished residence at Anmer Hall to celebrate their first Christmas as a family of four.
The whole family gathered for the Christmas Day service at the diminutive 16th century church of St Mary Magdalene, within walking distance of the big house and where Princess Charlotte was christened earlier this year.

 

As was to be expected, there was no sign of either George or Charlotte at church this year, as they're both much too young to sit still through the 45-minute service (Prince William attended for the first time in 1986, when he was 4.5 years old).

 

Senior members of the Royal family made their way to church early this morning for Holy Communion. The Queen wore a bouclé off-white suit and repeated an old favourite, a sumptous mink coat with shawl collar:

 

 

 

Fur proved to be rather popular this year with the Queen, who appeared later, for the main 11 o'clock service, wrapped up warm in a new festive red coat with fur cuffs and collar, and a matching fur-trimmed hat:

 

 

The Duchess of Cambridge was sporting a new outfit, too: she wore a long belted coat by Italian label Sportmax in appropriately Christmassy shades of green, swapping the original belt for a mock-croc one already in her wardrobe and topped off the look with a matching dark green felt hat with flower trim (both pieces I can definitely see recycled to upcoming St Patrick's events). Most exciting of all, though, she wore her acron and oak leaves brooch, thus allowing us a proper look at the piece after its debut in 2012 at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee luncheon:

 

 

The Duchess of Cornwall repeated a well-loved grey coat with Greek key trim and accessorized with pearls and her butterfly brooch:

 

The Countess of Wessex continued the fur theme in a striking pale grey coat with fur collar and geometric hat. I breathed a sigh of relief in seeing her daughter Lady Louise dressed in more age appropriate clothes for once and finally ditching her white thights in favour of less dowdy dark grey ones! You go, Lady Louise! I think there's a real beauty hidden behind those 1930s clothes she usually favours! Also, it was the first time Viscount Severn joined his parents and big sister at church on Christmas Day:

 

 

The Princess Royal was in a pistachio tweed coat and dress with a well-loved feather trimmed hat she most recently wore on 16 June this year at the Ascot races:

 

 

I think both Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie looked very stylish this year:

 

 

At 3 o'clock this afternoon it was time for that veritable British Christmas tradition that is the Queen's Speech (you will find a transcript of the speech here). The Queen selected a white dress she had first worn on a visit to Wales during the 2012 Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK and diamond and aquamarine clips that belonged to the Queen Mother:

 

 

So, which Royal look did you like best this Christmas? Be sure to drop me a comment and let me know! Personally, it's a tough choice between the Countess of Wessex and the Duchess of Cambridge!

The Christening of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge

This afternoon at 4.30pm GMT the christening of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge took place at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate.

Details of the service were published ahead of the ceremony on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's official website:

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen two hymns, one lesson and two anthems for the christening of their daughter, Princess Charlotte.

The hymns are Praise to the Lord, The Almighty and Come Down, O Love Divine.

The lesson is from Matthew 18, verses 1-5, read by Mr. James Meade.

The anthems are I Will Sing With The Spirit and God Be In My Head, both by John Rutter.

Members of The Sandringham Church Choir are singing at the service.

The processional organ music is R. Vaughan Williams' Prelude on "Rhosymedre".

The recessional organ music is G. F. Handel's Overture and Allegro from Concerto VIII in A.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, is baptising Princess Charlotte. He is being supported by The Reverend Canon Jonathan Riviere, the Rector of the Sandringham group of parishes.

Princess Charlotte's was not the first royal christening to take place at St Mary Magdalene. Princess Eugenie was christened there on 23 December 1990 by the Bishop of Norwich, as was Prince John, the last child of King George V and Queen Mary, on 3 August 1905.

Prince William's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, was christened at St Mary Magdalene as well, on 30 August 1961, having been born on 1 July of the same year at Park House on the estate.

During the service the Lily Font, a silver baptismal font commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840 for the christening of their first child Victoria, Princess Royal, was used. Water from the River Jordan was poured from a solid silver ewer made in 1735 for the christening of George III.

The Cambridges walked to the Church from their country home at Amner. Majesty magazine reports that the Millson pram the Duchess of Cambridge pushed is exactly the same as the one that carried Prince Edward in 1965 - you can certainly say these prams are made to a high standard!

Prince George walked alongside his parents and looked utterly adorable in a white smocked shirt with red embroidery and red shorts, very reminiscent of the outfit his daddy wore 30 years ago when he went to meet new baby brother Prince Harry at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington:

Prince George was caught on camera peeking at his little sister in her pram:

And how precious did Princess Charlotte look? She wore the replica of the original Victorian christening gown made by Angela Kelly, also worn by big brother George at his own christening in 2013:

Only a limited number of close family and friends were in attendance at the service: besides the Cambridges, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Middletons and the five godparents, all of them chosen among personal friends and close relatives of the couple. The godparents were friends Sophie Carter, James Meade and Thomas van Straubenzee, and The Hon. Laura Fellowes and Adam Middleton, first cousins of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge respectively.  Prince Harry was absent as he's currently in Namibia for one of his charitable projects.

The Duchess of Cambridge was in a bespoke cream coat dress by Alexander McQueen and a white straw Jane Taylor hat with flower trim, both new pieces. She repeated her Mappin & Webb "Empress" white gold and diamond pendant, which she paired with new matching earrings:

The Queen was in a repeat rose-print silk dress and powder pink coat and Angela Kelly hat, first seen at Royal Ascot last year:

Nanny Maria was on hand in her Norland uniform:

Both the Duchess of Cornwall and Mrs. Middleton looked lovely in summery pastels:

Pippa Middleton wore a high-necked cream coat-dress, a bespoke piece by Emilia Wickstead, topped off with a cream straw cocktail pill-box hat with feather detail by Jane Taylor:

So, what did you think of today's events? Whose look did you like best? Share your views in a comment below!


Daily Mail articles here (main article), here (Prince George's look), here (the Duchess of Cambridge's look), here (the Duchess of Cornwall's look), here (royal chrisening robe) and here (font and ewer).

Mirror article here.