British royal couple's visit to Patiala to be a private affair

Mon, Oct 4 06:03 AM
The visit of Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall, to the royal city of Patiala on Monday will be a private affair. The royal couple will be the personal guest of former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, the scion of the Patiala royal family.
While the district administration has made elaborate security arrangements for the visit, with the Government of India declaring Charles a state guest, security inside the new Moti Bagh Palace, Amarinder's personal residence, will be the responsibility of the British police.
Though the visit is being kept under wraps by Amarinder's family, he is learnt to have invited about 100 personal guests, including his close friends. According to sources, the guest list includes ambassadors of a few countries to India, besides prominent businessmen, politicians and bureaucrats.
While Camilla Parker Bowles will arrive at 3.30 pm by a special aircraft from Chandigarh, Charles will come at 5.30 pm, after visiting a farm at Hunsali village in Fatehgarh Sahib. Charles will go to the farm of Sukhchain Singh Gill, who has put up polyhouse farming in a one-kanal plot funded by the Farmers' Commission. Gill told The Indian Express that it was an honour to have a dignitary like Prince Charles at his farm.
"Though there will be no personal gain for me from this VIP visit, it will certainly help such type of farming," said Gill.
Upon their arrival in Patiala, the royal couple will be received by Punjab's Minister for Public Relations Sewa Singh Sekhwan, on behalf of the Punjab government. Besides, the divisional commissioner, the inspector general, the deputy commissioner and the senior superintendent of police of Patiala will also be in attendance at the airport.
Inside the Moti Bagh Palace, Amarinder and his wife Preneet Kaur, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs, will host a dinner, for which a Delhi-based five-star hotel has been hired to take care of the catering. The palace is also being spruced up for the visit.
The couple will fly to Jaipur the next morning. Charles had earlier visited the Patiala palace in March 2006.