Queen Elizabeth acceded to the throne in 1952, turning into the primary British monarch after India’s Independence. During her 70-yr reign, she visited India thrice – in 1961, 1983 and 1997. In certainly considered one among her addresses, the Queen had stated that she loved the “warm temperature and hospitality of the Indian people”. The Queen had determined the “richness and variety of India” as an inspiration.
In 1961, the Queen and her husband, Prince Phillip – Duke of Edinburgh – toured Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. In this photo, the Queen is visible with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. She additionally visited the Taj Mahal in Agra and paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat in New Delhi at some point of the visit. They have been Guests of Honour on the Republic Day Parade at the invitation of the then President, Dr Rajendra Prasad. During her visit, the Queen addressed a large crowd of numerous thousand humans packed into Ramlila Grounds in Delhi, wearing a fur coat and hat.
In 1969, the Queen hosted a dinner party in London wherein she become noticed talking to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 1983, her go to become in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and he or she famously provided Mother Teresa with an honorary Order of the Merit.
Her very last go to to India become to mark the fiftieth anniversary celebrations of India’s Independence in 1997 and for the primary time she made a reference to “hard episodes” of colonial history. “It isn’t anyt any mystery that there had been a few hard episodes in our past. Jallianwala Bagh is a distressing example,” the monarch mentioned in her feast address.
In 2009, she met then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at some point of a reception for international leaders attending the G20 summit at Buckingham Palace. The Queen additionally hosted 3 Indian Presidents – Dr Radhakrishnan in 1963, R Venkataraman in 1990 and Pratibha Patil in 2009.
