Queen hosts lunch for Modi at Buckingham Palace

From Aditi Khanna
London

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called on Queen Elizabeth II who hosted a luncheon for him at the Buckingham Palace, an honour usually reserved for the visiting heads of state.

Modi arrived at the Palace in a Jaguar – built by the Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) – on the second day of his maiden high-profile three-day official visit to the UK.

He was welcomed by the Master of the Household, the Queen’s representative, as he entered the Palace with the words “A very warm welcome to you, sir.”

The 89-year-old Queen greeted Modi, shaking hands with him before they moved on to inspect items from the Royal Collection, brought out specially for the Prime Minister’s visit.

These included photographs of the Queen dating back to her India visit when she was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade in 1961.

Modi presented the Queen some award-winning Darjeeling tea from Makaibari tea estate in West Bengal and fine organic honey from J&K.

The royal chefs of Buckingham Palace had prepared a vegetarian meal for the Prime Minister.

Later, Kensington Palace announced that Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton will undertake their first visit to India in the first half of next year.

It is believed the Royal couple, both aged 33, will visit the Taj Mahal among other tourist destinations in the country.

Soon after the lunch, Modi made his way to Wembley Stadium to address a 60,000-strong.

Both Modi and his British counterpart David Cameron were to drive up to the world famous arena in Jaguar Land Rover vehicles as another symbol of India-UK partnership.

The two leaders have been by each other’s side for most of the three-day visit.

During their more private meeting at Chequers, Cameron’s country residence in Buckinghamshire, the duo shared an “intimate dinner” and morning stroll around the grounds.

Modi planted an oak sapling and also presented Cameron with a copy of David Omissi’s ‘Indian Voices of the Great War’ in view of the latter’s fondness for Robert Graves’ work on World War I ‘Goodbye to All That’.

PTI