Queen Elizabeth II: When she visited India as Chief Guest on Republic Day

Queen Elizabeth II: India visit: Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning British monarch, passed away at the age of 96. She was the first British monarch to accede to the throne after India's Independence from colonial rule in 1952 following the death of her father King George VI. She held her coronation at Westminster Abbey the following year. Her 70-year reign makes her the longest reigning monarch in British history.

Queen Elizabeth II admired the richness and diversity of India where she made three visits over the course of her reign in 1961, 1983 and 1997. All her visits were special in their own way.

"The warmth and hospitality of the Indian people, and the richness and diversity of India itself have been an inspiration to all of us," she said in one of her addresses.

1961-  Guests of Honour at the Republic Day Parade

Her visit in the year 1961 marked the first visit by a reigning British monarch to India after the country got independence. The Queen and her husband, the late Prince Phillip  were Guests of Honour at the Republic Day Parade on the invitation of the then President Rajendra Prasad, and an enduring image from the tour shows the Queen addressing a massive crowd of several thousand people packed into Ramlila Grounds in Delhi for her address, dressed in a fur coat and hat.

They visited Agra, Bombay (now Mumbai), Benares (now Varanasi), Udaipur, Jaipur, Bangalore (now Bengaluru), Madras (now Chennai) and Calcutta (now Kolkata). She even visited Rajghat and paid her tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial. What made this trip special is her wisdom and unceasing sense of duty with a combination of respect, esteem, awe and affection that made her replace her footwears with velvet slippers before entering Mahatma Gandhi's memorial.

1983-  Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)

India's former President Giani Zail Singh invited the queen to visit India in the year 1983. Her visit was in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and came with her husband  Prince Philip. The royal couple met Mother Teresa and decorated her with an honorary Order of Merit.

1997-  50th anniversary of India's Independence

Elizabeth II toured India for the third time in the year 1997 on the 50th anniversary of India's Independence from British rule. She visited the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial at Amritsar, Punjab and bowed her head and placed a wreath at the memorial.

For the first time she made a reference to difficult episodes of colonial history. "It is no secret that there have been some difficult episodes in our past. Jallianwala Bagh is a distressing example" the monarch noted in her banquet address.

"Britain and India have a long-shared history which today is a source of great strength in building a new partnership fit for this new century", the Queen said in her State Banquet address for President Patil at Buckingham Palace.

Over the years, the Queen has also hosted three Indian presidents Radhakrishnan in 1963, R. Venkataraman in 1990 and Pratibha Patil in 2009.

(With PTI inputs)