10 trips, a cheeky kiss and yoga — King Charles and India go a long way back

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving British monarch, died on Thursday (September 8) at the Balmoral Castle in Scotland after a reign of 70 years. Her son Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, was anointed King and is now officially known as King Charles III.

King Charles III has a long association with India, having visited the country 10 times. He celebrated one of his birthdays here. Here we look back at some of the eventful moments.

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When Padmini Kolhapore kissed Prince Charles

Prince Charles’ visit to India in 1980 got much media attention when he was a 32-year-old bachelor and Bollywood actress Padmini Kolhapore kissed him.

Years later, Kolhapore admitted she was “embarrassed” about the episode which happened when Prince Charles visited the sets of her movie Ahista Ahista at Rajkamal Studios in Mumbai.

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“It was just a peck on the cheek…the media took it somewhere else. It was no big deal,” she told Hindustan Times in 2007.

“He was visiting Mumbai and I don’t know what he thought that he wanted to see a shoot. Shashikalaji did his Indian aarti and I just greeted him with a peck on his cheek. But, in those days, it became a big thing. I remember I went to London for a holiday and this British immigration officer asked me, ‘Are you the same person who kissed Prince Charles?’ I was left embarrassed,” Kolhapore told the Times of India in 2013.

Skipping the Taj Mahal visit with Diana

Another big talking point of his India trip was during 1992 when he did not visit the Taj Mahal in Agra with his wife Princess Diana. Twelve years earlier, Prince Charles, as a bachelor, had posed in front of the Taj Mahal alone.

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She went alone and later, Royal biographer Andrew Morton told BBC, “Well, I thought that Prince Charles had scored a spectacular own goal.”

In 2003, during his nine-day visit to India, Prince Charles met then President Abdul Kalam, and also took a ride on the Delhi Metro.

After the meeting with Kalam, Prince Charles said, “India has deep roots in our past. It is part of our collective memory. It will also be a long-term partner in our future security and prosperity.”

Meeting dabbawalas of Mumbai

The same year, he met dabbawalas of Mumbai at Churchgate railway station in South Mumbai. He had a 20-minute meeting with them.

“The prince was mesmerised learning about the way we work and heard us with rapt attention,” Raghunath Medge, an office bearer of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association, told PTI on Friday (September 9), recalling that meeting.

Also, on hearing of Prince Charles’ wedding announcement in 2005, the association sent a nine-yard sari for Camilla Parker Bowles and a Maharashtrian turban for him, he said.

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“Prince Charles accepted the gift and extended a special invitation to the association to attend his wedding. He even made airfare arrangements for two people and took care of other expenses as well,” Medge said.

In 2017, Prince Charles met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and they discussed wide-ranging issues on strengthening bilateral cooperation.

PM @narendramodi with Their Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at Hyderabad House in New Delhi pic.twitter.com/SR5qqEegTi

— PIB India (@PIB_India) November 8, 2017

Support for Ayurveda research

In November 2019, during his two-day visit to India, Prince Charles met then President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Prince planted a Champa sapling – plant native to the subcontinent which has several uses in Ayurveda – in the Herbal Garden of Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was taken around the garden and shown different plants that have medicinal properties. The Prince showed a keen interest in India’s alternative model of healthcare.

The President thanked the Prince of Wales for his support for Ayurveda research. The Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation and the All India Institute of Ayurveda signed an MoU during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UK in April 2018. Under the MoU, the All India Institute of Ayurveda and the College of Medicine, UK will be conducting clinical research on Depression, Anxiety and Fibromyalgia. They will also be undertaking training programme for the development of Standard Operating Protocol on “AYURYOGA” for UK Health professionals.

The Prince of Wales called on President Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President said that India and the United Kingdom are natural partners bound by historical ties and shared values of democracy, rule of law and respect for multicultural society. 🇮🇳🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/lSUukaJB83

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) November 13, 2019

During his stay in India in 2019, Prince Charles celebrated his 71st birthday with schoolchildren in Mumbai.

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Prince Charles, who practises yoga, had spoken about the importance of it for post-COVID-19 recovery.

An assembled ‘Elephant Parade’ greet Their Royal Highnesses in the garden of the British High Commissioner’s Residence. #RoyalVisitIndia pic.twitter.com/VS41ZdaE8h

— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) November 8, 2017

Promoting yoga

Last year, in a video statement to the virtual yoga and healthcare symposium ‘Wellness After Covid’, he said, “This pandemic has emphasised the importance of preparedness, resilience and the need for an approach which addresses the health and welfare of the whole person as part of society, and which does not merely focus on the symptoms alone.

“As part of that approach, therapeutic, evidenced-informed yoga can contribute to health and healing. By its very nature, yoga is an accessible practice which provides practitioners with ways to manage stress, build resilience and promote healing.”

Also read: Prince Charles recovered from COVID-19 by NHS advice, not Ayurveda: Office

According to a report in the British media, in 2019, Prince Charles said yoga had “proven beneficial effects on both body and mind”, and delivered “tremendous social benefits” that help build “discipline, self-reliance and self-care”.

In 2018, Prince Charles launched a new 10-million-dollar Development Impact Bond (DIB) to help improve education for over 200,000 children in India.