In a first royal visit to India in 20 years, the British royal couple Prince William and Kate Middleton had sepnt their first day in Mumbai with a visit to the Taj Mahal Hotel to pay tribute to terror attack victims and then joined cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on the grease before heading to an evening gala party with the Bollywood celebrities.
The Duke and Duchess at tonight’s @TajMahalMumbai reception #RoyalVisitIndia pic.twitter.com/Qu3TKVSuro
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 10, 2016
Sachin Tendulkar said, “Nice to see that William knows cricket and can actually bat”.
Bollywood heavies such as Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Shilpa Shetty, Sonam Kapoor, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan and industrialists Anand Mahindra and Harsh Goenka were present at the evening party but missing among them was Amitabh Bachchan.
TRH arrive at the Bollywood Charity Gala which is raising funds for @MagicBusIndia @CHILDLINE1098 and the Door Step pic.twitter.com/Gzfr8izJ20
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 10, 2016
Bollywood’s famous faces pose on the red carpet at the @TajMahalMumbai #RoyalVisitIndia pic.twitter.com/00BsHFL9bX
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 10, 2016
TRH visit the Banganga community and meet women from @smilefoundation making crafts #RoyalVisitIndia pic.twitter.com/cou7fU3o0F
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 10, 2016
The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge @sachin_rt #DilipVengsarkar with budding cricketers at #OvalMaidan #RoyalVisitIndia pic.twitter.com/BW3tTkFEjL
— UK in India (@UKinIndia) April 10, 2016
TRH visit #Mumbai park the Oval Maidan and meet cricket legends @sachin_rt and Dilip Vengsarkar #RoyalVisitIndia pic.twitter.com/9ZRFehdfzc
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 10, 2016
The royal couple will go to Delhi on Monday to visit Raj Ghat and pay respects to the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and later attend a luncheon meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi before heading to the Taj Mahal in Agra, which Prince William’s mother, the late Princess Diana, had visited 24 years ago and spent considerable time marvelling the symbol of love.
Their next important destination is Assam’s Kaziranga National Park, home to India’s one-horned rhinos. The entire week will be an evventful one for the royal couple in India, spanning seven days.