Taj Mahal: William and Kate seek to banish memory of Princess Diana's visit
Princess Diana visited by herself in 1992 and sparked questions about her relationship with Prince Charles
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Almost 25 years ago, a photograph of Princess Dina, sitting by herself in front of India’s most celebrated monument to love, sparked questions as to whether she was delivering a message about her faltering relationship with Prince Charles.
Four years after Diana was photographed sitting at the Taj Mahal, the couple announced their divorce.
On Saturday, those in charge of promoting the image of the British royalty revealed they had learned the lesson of such symbolism. On a tour to India that has dominated headlines in the nation’s media, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sat and smiled for photos on the same marble bench where Dina had cast a lonely figure.
The Associated Press said that on a hot day in Agra, the couple were briefed by a guide as they entered the compound that houses the marble monument, commissioned by the 17th Century Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
Asked how to describe the monument, the Duke said it was “stunning”. Perhaps aware of the lingering image of his forlorn mother, he said he and his wife had wanted to “create some memories of our own”.
The monument is located in the banks of the Yamuna river in Agra, around 100 miles south of Delhi. The site is India’s most visited tourist draw and the trip to Agra was the last stop on William and Kate’s India tour.
They arrived in Mumbai on April 10 and laid a wreath at the Taj Palace hotel, which was targeted in the 2008 attacks that killed 166 people in the city. They played cricket with local children and met Bollywood stars and business leaders, before flying to Delhi, where their schedule included lunch with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The couple then flew to northeastern India's Assam state to visit Kaziranga National Park, which has two-thirds of the world’s population of Indian one-horned rhinos as well as endangered swamp deer. They then visited neighbouring Bhutan for two days, at the invitation of its King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema, before flying back to India.
The royal couple was scheduled to leave for London on Saturday night.
The couple’s first visit to India has secured widespread coverage in both the Indian and international media, much of it focussing on the duchess’s clothes; on Saturday she was reportedly wearing a white and navy dress by Indian-American designer Naeem Khan.
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