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!

 

 

Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary to the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall!

Today, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary - happy anniversary! While their wedding has always had a special place in my heart, as far as royal events go, because it was the first I followed with proper, royal-watching interest (I wasn't yet born when Prince Charles married Lady Diana), I am, of course, aware that the topic of the second marriage of the Prince of Wales is still somewhat sensitive, but let's just take the approach the Queen herself took to the matter, when she remarked, during a speech at the wedding reception, that "I'm very proud and wish them well. My son is home and dry with the woman he loves".

The wedding was originally scheduled for 8 April 2005 at Windsor Castle. Eventually, both the date and location changed, as the Prince of Wales went to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II, taking place the same day, so the wedding was postponed by a day. It also proved difficul to secure a licence for the Castle (apparently, once one had been granted, the Castle would have to allow other couples who wished to marry there to do so), which meant that the ceremony had to take place at the Guildhall in Windsor, a Grade I listed building by Christopher Wren.

The civil ceremony (necessary as the Duchess was a divorcée) was attended by just 28 guests. Notable absents were the groom's parents, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who felt that their presence would prevent the ceremony from being low-key as intended. Prince William and Camilla's son, Tom Parker-Bowles, were witnesses.

 

Wedding guests: the bride's sister Annabel Shand and daughter Laura Parker-Bowles. 

 

The Earl and Countess of Wessex, Prince William and Zara Phillips.

 

The Countess of Wessex, Princess Beatrice and the Duke of York.

 

 

Laura Parker-Bowles (now Lopes) with Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice.

For the civil ceremony, the bride wore an oyster coloured afternoon dress and coat of by Robinson Valentine. The coat was made of silk, woven with a bakset-weave pattern, while the dress was chiffon decorated round the hem with a fringe of large, round cream sequins. The hat, trimmed with lace and feathers, was by Philip Tracey. The bride accessorised her outfit with a diamond and white gold brooch in the shape of the Prince of Wales' feathers (Her Majesty's Jewel Vault has more info on the piece here), pearl pendant earrings (a pair she still wears quite often to this day), a cream calf leather Launer clutch bag and a pair of nude suede mid-heel courts by none other than L.K. Bennett, years before her step-daughter-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge popularized the style - and the brand!

 

 

 

The civil ceremony was followed by a blessing at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, conducted by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.
For this occasion, while the Prince of Wales kept the same morning dress, changing only the flower in his buttonhole, the Duchess opted for a totally different, more traditionally bridal ensamble.
She wore a shimmering, floor-lenght silvery blue and gold damask coat over a matching chiffon gown embroidered with gold, in a design taken from a piece of jewellery that had been in the collection of her mother, again by designer duo Robinson Valentine, with a magnificent headdress of golden feathers by Philip Treacy. She completed the look with an exquisite pair of diamond pendant earrings in a delicate flower design.

 

 

The Queen wore cream to the blessing, and accessorised her coat lapel with her Australian Wattle brooch of white and yellow diamonds:

 

 

The bride carried a small posy of lilies-of-the-valley mixed with primroses and Myrtle, designed by Shane Connolly:

 Of course official pictures were taken:

The happy couple with their parents and children:

After the blessing, a reception was held in the State Apartments at Windsor Castle, after which the newlyweds drove off in a car festooned in red, white and blue balloons to spend their honeymoon at Birkhall in Scotland.

Slices of the splendidly iced wedding cake were boxed to be presented to guests:

 

 

Birkhall, the honeymoon location, is an estate on Royal Deeside in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and was inherited by the Prince of Wales at the death of his grandmother the Queen Mother:

The outfit worn by the Duchess for the blessing was featured last year in the "The Wedding Dress: 300 Years of Bridal Fashions" at the Victoria & Albert Museum: