He came, he saw and he was expected to conquer, but it seemed he didn’t want to… the visit of the royal family member of United Kingdom, Prince Charles to Pune turned out to be quite bland with Prince Charles playing the absolute British stiff upper lip.
At the Turf Club, where he met the city’s who’s who, Prince Charles arrived 13 minutes before time, just as the British would and patiently greeted every single invitee for the High Tea. He restricted himself to just a cup of tea and nothing more. He personally greeted all the invitees at the reception and spent considerable time with industrialists Aadar Poonawala, Rahul Bajaj and a couple of others. While the attendees generally seemed overawed by his presence, Prince Charles didn’t seem too much excited about it at all. Eventually, the British Council authorities politely brought to his notice that the media wanted to talk to him briefly. While the Prince graciously accepted the request, the answers he gave weren’t much enthusiastic.
Sample this –
So, how did you like the Indian food?
Oh I tried a bit of it, but it is too much for me to take it.
(This when his supposed subjects - the British, love chicken curry most)
What about Sachin Tendulkar?
(Breaking out in a wide grin) Doesn’t matter if this is his first test or the last… he has always been a good sportsperson.
(Well, he has been God of Cricket to roughly half a billion people.)
How did you like Pune?
Unfortunately it was a very short trip and I did not get to see much.
(Ok, granted to you, Prince, it was indeed a very short trip.)
Royal couple’s city visit begins with remembrance of martyrs
Prince Charles lays wreath at Kirkee War Cemetry
In order to conduct the personal act of remembrance, Prince Charles and the duchess of Cornwall, Camilla visited Kirkee War Cemetery (KWC) to commemorate the men and women who were killed during World War I and II on Sunday. Prince Charles put flowers at 11 graves, the first two being of Indian martyrs.
The royal couple was at the cemetery for more than 25 minutes. They also visited the graves of the oldest and the youngest martyrs. The couple was escorted by Lt Gen Ravi Eipe and Col Simon Colyer of the British High Commission, New Delhi.
Addressing the media, Lt Gen Ravi Eipe said, “The royal family conducted a personal act of remembrance and the sacrifice to commemorate the men and women who were killed during the two World Wars and other conflicts. The royal couple was happy about the maintenance of the cemetery and appreciated it.”
A round of Serum Institute
Prince Charles joined Serum Institute of India (SII) chairman Dr Cyrus Poonawalla and his son Adar (executive director, SII) for a guided tour of the facility and ongoing projects, while Camilla joined Adar Poonawalla’s wife Natasha for a tour of the Poonawalla Stud Farms, a few km away from the SII campus.
Camilla, who is an ardent lover of horses, is very knowledgeable about their grooming, vaccination and breeding and is said to have shared a few important pointers with Natasha and the horse trainers at the stud farms.
On the other hand, Prince Charles, accompanied by the Poonawallas, members of British High Commission including Kumar Iyer, British deputy high commissioner met Sir Brian Richards, non-executive chairman of UK-based Xenetic Biosciences with whom SII has tied up for developing improved technology for kidney dialysis patients, confirmed Adar Poonawalla.
“He was genuinely interested and spoke with with our scientific team about the products. We were pleasantly surprised to find him to be so technically knowledgeable about vaccine industry and asking pertinent questions. For example, he asked us how we decide which projects to take up and which to discard. Actually, that is one of the biggest battles we face: selection of research areas. He also spent a lot of time learning about the MenAfriVac vaccine,” said Poonawalla.
MenAfriVac is a vaccine developed for use in sub-Saharan Africa that protects people from 1 to 29 years old against meningococcal bacterium. Prince Charles asked scientists present about the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and its acceptance in India since it was surrounded with controversy in the West.
Turf Club surprise
Prince Charles took everyone by surprise when he walked in 13 minutes prior to his scheduled time at Turf Club House (TCH). With the crowd gathered at the entrance, he patiently shook hands and interacted with everyone present at the do and even posed for several pictures patiently smiling throughout. For the first time during his entire trip, he agreed to have milky Indian ‘chai’, but while speaking to media persons he admitted he couldn’t stomach spicy Indian curries.
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