India’s erstwhile royal families on hosting Queen Elizabeth II during her first trip to India

When the Delhi Durbars were held in 1903 and 1911, all the Rajas and Maharajas of India travelled to Delhi to pay their respects to the Crown. Yet, decades later, when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited Udaipur, in January 1961, to restore the British monarchy’s relationship with this royal house, Maharana Bhagwat Singh Mewar graciously welcomed them. It is an occasion still very much in our thoughts.” Witnessing history Tej Singh of Bansi, who was a college student during the Queen’s visit, recalls how some of the Umraos — the highest feudal barons of Mewar — got together at his family residence and travelled to the Maharana’s Shiv Niwas Palace together to meet the royal guests. While my elder brother Harish Chandra Singh got the opportunity to drive the senior nobles in the Rolls Royce, I, being the younger one, was an enthusiastic witness to this exciting moment.” Passing through the lanes and by-lanes of Udaipur in a state-of-the-art Cadillac, waving through a sea of faces, when the Queen’s cavalcade arrived at the palace, the Maharana personally escorted the royal couple around the premises. “Kaalu Dada wore that coin around his neck for as long as he lived and called it rani ka medal or the queen’s medal,” recalls Himmat’s cousin, Karanvijay Singh Bedla.