A Rare Photograph is Worth a Thousand Good-Byes – The House of Mewar pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth by releasing the photographs from Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Udaipur in 1961
The grand old doyen of the English royalty is no more. She has seen it all – the colonial rule, the World War II, the holocaust, the emergence of new world. She visited India in 1961, and several images of her visit are out there in the public domain. However there a bunch of unseen pictures as well. Few such rare photographs have been released by the House of Mewars from the time Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh visited Udaipur on 30 January, 1961.
As Royal Guests of the House of Mewar, the visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II along with Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh to Udaipur on 30 January 1961 is still remembered with fond memories. In this photograph, accessed from the archives of The City Palace Museum in Udaipur, Her Majesty and Maharana Bhagwat Singh Mewar of Udaipur are acknowledging greetings of the crowds that lined up to wish Her Majesty and the witness the once-in-a-century event.
KL Syed & Co. were the photographers who captured the Queens visit with utmost detail; we see cavalcade driving through the historic Suraj Pol of the city. For vintage car enthusiasts, there are more stories to share: The Cadillac Convertible, used for her visit, is still in operation. Visitors to The Vintage and Classic Car Collection in Udaipur can see the pair of Cadillacs – the Convertible and the Saloon.
The House of Mewar was amongst the first to own this pair of Cadillacs – the Convertible and the Saloon. The Cadillac Convertible is regularly used by Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur, the 76th Custodian of the House of Mewar, for important functions such as regal ceremonies and festivals like Ashwa Pooja, Dussehra and Holika Dahan. The Cadillac Saloon on the other hand, is used by the
Maharani as her personal car.
The Cadillac Convertible has a very full history. It was not only the car in action during the visits to Udaipur of Her Majesty the Queen of England but also those of the First Lady of the United States of America, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy in 1963 and His Majesty, the Shah of Iran in 1968.
