Prince William and Kate Middleton to make maiden India visit in 2016

London: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called on Queen Elizabeth II who hosted a luncheon for him at the Buckingham Palace, an honour usually reserved for the visiting heads of state.

Modi arrived at the Palace in a Jaguar – built by the Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) – on the second day of his maiden high-profile three-day official visit to the UK. He was welcomed by the Master of the Household, the Queen’s representative, as he entered the Palace with the words, “A very warm welcome to you, sir.”

The 89-year-old Queen greeted Modi, shaking hands with him before they moved on to inspect items from the Royal Collection, brought out specially for the Prime Minister’s visit. These included photographs of the Queen dating back to her India visit when she was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade in 1961.

Later, Kensington Palace announced that Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton will undertake their first visit to India in the first half of next year. It is believed the Royal couple, both aged 33, will visit the Taj Mahal among other tourist destinations in the country. Soon after the lunch, Modi made his way to Wembley Stadium to address a 60,000-strong.

Both Modi and his British counterpart David Cameron were to drive up to the world famous arena in Jaguar Land Rover vehicles as another symbol of India-UK partnership. The two leaders have been by each other’s side for most of the three-day visit.

During their more private meeting at Chequers, Cameron’s country residence in Buckinghamshire, the duo shared an “intimate dinner” and morning stroll around the grounds.

Modi planted an oak sapling and also presented Cameron with a copy of David Omissi’s Indian Voices of the Great War in view of the latter’s fondness for Robert Graves’ work on World War I Goodbye to All That.

Tanchoi stoles, award-winning Darjeeling tea, fine organic honey from Jammu and Kashmir and memorable photographs of Queen Elizabeth II from her maiden India visit in 1961 were the gifts presented by Modi when he called on the British monarch Friday. Modi was hosted for lunch by the 89-year-old Queen on the second day of his maiden three-day official visit to Britain.

“Presented Her Majesty The Queen some photographs taken 54 years ago from her first visit to India in January-February 1961,” Modi tweeted about the snaps taken 54 years ago when she visited India to be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi. During the visit, “Her Majesty visited Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru & Chennai,” he said.

“Also presented to Her Majesty some award-winning Darjeeling tea from Makaibari tea estate in West Bengal & fine organic honey from J&K. Tanchoi stoles that are a speciality of Varanasi were presented by me to Her Majesty the Queen,” the Prime Minister, who is on his maiden visit to the UK, said.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi gifted his British counterpart David Cameron a specially handcrafted pair of bookends with verses from Bhagavad Gita engraved on it and a book compiling letters sent by Indian soldiers during the World War I when they served in France. “Presented PM @David_Cameron a specially handcrafted pair of bookends made of wood, marble and silver,” Modi tweeted. The centrepiece of each of these bookends is a silver bell which has a verse from the Bhagavad Gita etched in Sanskrit, along with its English meaning along the inside rim. These verses are taken from Chapter 13 of the Bhagavad Gita. To First Lady Samantha Cameron, Modi presented Aranmula metal mirror, a unique handicraft from Kerala, and some pashmina stoles.