Three Royal Visits, Fifty Years Apart: How the British Crown Has Traveled to India
A new photo feature from Town & Country traces the British royal family's trips to India, and the first one began with a title. In 1911, King George V and Queen Mary visited India five months after their coronation in London. There they were proclaimed emperor and empress of India, a title that tied the British crown to the subcontinent.
The visit left a mark on Mumbai, the city then known as Bombay. The Gateway of India, a stone arch overlooking the harbor, was built to commemorate the king and queen's trip. It still stands at the water's edge and is one of the city's best-known landmarks.
Fifty years later, the crown's relationship with India looked very different. Queen Elizabeth II made her first trip to India in January and February 1961, and she also visited Pakistan on the same tour. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, traveled with her. The couple toured Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, three of the country's largest cities.
The 1961 trip was a first of its own kind. It was the first visit by a reigning British monarch since India gained independence in 1947. A reigning monarch is a king or queen who is on the throne at the time. India had become an independent country fourteen years earlier, and its leaders had chosen to become a republic, with an elected head of state rather than a king or queen.
The queen was guest of honor at the Republic Day parade, the annual national celebration marking the date India's constitution took effect in 1950. She also attended a reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the president in New Delhi. India's first president, Rajendra Prasad, hosted her there.
For American readers, the two visits make a useful pair. One arrived as the sovereign of an empire. The other arrived as a guest of a country that had already left the empire behind. Both trips are still part of how the royal family presents its history, and the photos in the feature show how the two eras looked to the people who watched them.
Anyone interested in the full set of images can find them in the Town & Country feature linked above.
