When William and Kate head off on their historic first tour of India next week, they will be following in the footsteps of kings and queens — and William's own parents, Charles and Diana. We're taking a look at the places and people who have been featured in the incredible royal tours from over the past one and a half centuries, as well as where the duke and duchess could well be heading.
Sophie, Countess of Wessex
Sophie was the most recent member of the royal family to visit India, spending a week there in September 2013 to support sight-saving charity Orbis. She witnessed a patient undergoing surgery high above the ground in the Flying Eye Hospital and visited orphaned children living on the streets in Kolkata.
Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
The royal couple packed a lot into their 2013 visit, taking in the holy city of Rishikesh in the foothills of the Himalayas, the Swaminarayan Akshardham Hindu temple in New Delhi, a mobile creche in Mumbai, Paradesi Synagogue in Kerala, and "Elephant Corridor" in Nilgiri, which is home to the largest number of Indian elephants in the world.
King Edward VIII
Back when he was Prince of Wales, the fated future King Edward undertook a mammoth tour which lasted several years, including four months in India through 1921 and 1922. These were the days when royal tours were about processing around, attending parties and receptions, polo races and pageants. The role call of stops included Bombay (Mumbai), Baroda, Udaipur, Jodphur, Calcutta, Rangoon, Mandalay, Madras, Hyderabad, Agra, Delhi, Lahore, Peshwar, and Karachi. The tour was so epic that a book called The Prince of Wales Eastern Book was written about it by Sir Percival Phillips.
Prince Andrew
Andrew visited the country on behalf of the queen in her Diamond Jubilee year. He started in New Delhi by visiting a youth project before moving on to a school, one of Asia's biggest slums in Mumbai, a children's home in Kolkata, and a war cemetery in Chennai, before supporting local industry in Bangalore.
Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales
Who can forget the iconic images of Diana sitting alone outside the Taj Mahal? It had been decided that to cover the most amount of ground, the royal couple would divide their time and go on separate engagements in 1992 — so while Diana visited the famous landmark to love, Charles was giving a speech in Bangalore to a business leader's forum. Charles has visited the country before and since on his own, including a 1980 visit when he met Mother Teresa.
King George V
George V was the first reigning British king to visit India back in 1911 when it was still a part of the empire. He and his wife, Queen Mar,y arrived five months after his coronation and were welcomed with an Imperial Durbar in Delhi — a grand occasion to commemorate his accession to the throne. The ceremony cost £1 million and took a year to prepare, while 200,000 people turned out to witness it.
The Queen
In 1961, the queen visited India for the first time (she has been twice since) and thousands turned out to see her. Times were changing and a royal tour was not solely about processing around grandly anymore. She met with Indira Ghandi, donned diamonds and a tiara for a state event, rode on an elephant in Jaipur, and planted a tree at the Gandhi memorial in New Delhi. She was also gifted with a doll in a turban for her young son Prince Andrew.
King Edward VII
Edward visited when he was the Prince of Wales, traveling around for eight months from 1875 to 1876. Bombay was his main base, but he traveled extensively over the whole country, including to Poona (Pune), Baroda, Goa, and Kerala. He went by train to Madurai, Trichinopoly, Madras, and Calcutta, and by boat down the Ganges to Bankipur, Bihar, Benares, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Delhi.
Prince William and Kate Middleton
So what will be on the duke and duchess's itinerary this Spring? William is passionate about conservation, so he's sure to want to draw attention to that during the visit, and a trip to the Himalayas National Park looks likely. Kate has made it her mission to champion children's hospices around the world and so will want to include a visit to Happy Feet Home in Mumbai, the first children's hospice in India. There were flash floods in Uttarakhand two years ago, so the couple may visit the area to see how the people are rebuilding their lives — and they are also likely to visit youth centers in the most impoverished areas, while experiencing the local culture. Look out for music and dancing!