For the past two days it has been difficult to read a newspaper or open a news website in India and not find a picture of Prince William and Kate Middleton staring at you. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, on their first visit to the country, have been visiting all the right places, and the media of course has been making all the right noises.
Every movement of theirs has been tracked, documented and photographed.
The couple landed in Mumbai on Sunday, played a spot of cricket with Sachin Tendulkar and Dilip Vengsarkar, toured the city’s slums, met underprivileged children, visited the Oval Maidan and the historic Banganga water tank. At night, actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan played host to them at a star-studded charity dinner at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel.
Monday saw the royal couple meeting aspiring young entrepreneurs at a Mumbai event, before jetting off to Delhi, where they paid respect to 70,000 Indian soldiers who fought for Britain in the First World War at India Gate. The couple will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital during an event celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday.
In WillKat’s first two days in India, no detail has been deemed too small for media coverage. What did they cook? Prince William tried his hand at preparing a dosa, took a small bite and said, “Namaste Mumbai! Thank you for the dosa experience.” What were they served? Awadhi biryani, kulfi and more. What were they thinking before coming? “William said he struggles with the spices”. What brands did she wear? Anita Dongre and Alexander McQueen.
Twitter, of course, couldn’t help but laugh at the media’s obsession. It particularly cracked up at the cricket match where Tendulkar and Vengsarkar looked like reluctant chaperones.
The couple leaves for a two-day visit Assam on Tuesday. As part of their first royal tour after the birth of their daughter Princess Charlotte in 2015, the couple will then spend two days in Bhutan from Wednesday. They conclude their tour with a visit to Taj Mahal on April 16, before returning home.
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