India visit of Prince Charles

By C.P. Belliappa

Charles, Prince of Wales, the heir to the throne of United Kingdom (UK), has visited India 10 times till date. One of his visits was in 1980, and one of the States where he was a State Guest was Orissa. My father, C.M. Poonacha, was the Governor of Orissa at the time. Prince Charles stayed in the Raj Bhavan for a couple of days and my parents interacted with him as his hosts. For my father, who was a freedom fighter, this was quite an experience to host the future King of the UK, whose ancestors were his adversaries. 

Prince Charles was a 32-year-old bachelor at the time. Those who have watched ‘The Crown’ on Netflix would recall that before his foreign tour in 1980, he had started dating Diana Spencer. He took her to Balmoral Castle to meet the Queen and other members of the family and was supposedly put through the ‘Balmoral Test’ to assess if she has the right qualities to be a Windsor and a potential Queen of UK. 

Months prior to her marriage, Diana moved to Buckingham Palace to familiarise herself with the protocols to be followed as the future Princess of Wales. My father found Prince Charles to be an amiable, intelligent, and well-read young man. It is commendable that India and UK continue to have cordial relationship despite the dark colonial era. I recently found some of the photographs taken during the 1980 visit.

Had I known as much as I do now about Queen Victoria and her Indian God-daughter Princess Victoria Gowramma of Coorg, I would have visited Bhubaneswar for a chat with Prince Charles! An opportunity missed.

After his visit to Orissa, Prince Charles was the State Guest of Maharashtra. Wherever he went, girls were swooning over him! He was arguably the most eligible bachelor in the world at that point in time. I am sure many would remember the cheeky kiss the then 16-year-old Padmini Kolhapure of Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram-fame, stole from the Prince charming!

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married in 1981. Their tumultuous life, divorce and the subsequent horrendous accident that took Diana’s life, are familiar to the world. The person who stole Charles’ heart was Camilla Parker Bowles (née Camilla Shand). There are several speculations about Charles becoming King and Camilla his Queen. One rumour is that Queen Elizabeth II will abdicate later this year after her 95th birthday celebrations and make way for Charles to be coronated. Another scenario is that the Queen will hold on to the crown and make Charles the Regent. Yet another speculation is that the Queen might bypass Charles and name his son Prince William her successor. If Queen Elizabeth II, after 69 years on the throne, continues as the Monarch till her demise, then by normal scheme of things UK will have King Charles and Queen Camilla. 

People in the UK are divided on the issue of continuation of the monarchy with a slight bias towards retaining the royal head of State. In any case, it is more than a couple of centuries since monarchy in the UK ‘reigns but does not rule’.

When Padmini Kolhapure kissed Prince Charles!

Bollywood actress Padmini Kolhapure made a lot of headlines in 1980 when Prince Charles came to India and the teenage actress welcomed him with a warm kiss on his cheeks. The Prince was welcomed by Padmini during a visit to a Bollywood shooting spot and after putting the garland on his neck, she planted a kiss on his cheek. According to reports, Prince Charles was also surprised with the actress’ gesture. This became quite a topic of discussion at that time.

About the author: C.P. Belliappa is a Chemical Engineer. He is based in Coorg (Kodagu). He is known for his writings on issues pertaining to Coorg. He writes humour, history and human-interest stories. Four of his books — Tale of A Tiger’s Tail & other Yarns from Coorg, Nuggets from Coorg History, Victoria Gowramma: The Lost Princess of Coorg, and Tongue of the Slip — have been published by Rupa Publications. He presently serves as President, Coorg Institute of Technology (CIT), Ponnampet, South Kodagu.