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BBC News - In pictures: British woman travels to 1911 Delhi durbar

10 December 2011 Last updated at 01:01

In pictures: British woman travels to 1911 Delhi durbar

Lilah Wingfield inside the tented city of the Delhi durbar in 1911

In 1911, a young Anglo-Irish aristocrat, Lilah Wingfield, set off for India to witness the only durbar - or ceremonial gathering - ever to be attended by a British monarch. She gained a remarkable insight into the workings of colonial India.

Lilah notes in her diaries what it was like to see the elaborate week-long series of ceremonies to celebrate George V's enthronement as Emperor of India.

Lilah Wingfield arrived in Bombay harbour on 28 November 1911. She took this picture with her Kodak from her cabin porthole.

After a two-day train journey from Bombay, Lilah arrived on the outskirts of Delhi where she travelled on the Grand Trunk Road to get to the tournament.

The entrance gate to the tented city where the durbar was held was emblazoned with the words "India Greets Your Imperial Majesties". Historians argue that the durbar marked the zenith of colonial rule in India

The durbar consisted of a huge tented city at Coronation Park in Delhi established to proclaim King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India - and, without public forewarning, the shifting of India's capital from Calcutta to Delhi.

Ruling princes and their entourages arrive for the durbar

The ruling princes and their entourages arrived by trains especially designated to transport them to the durbar. Practically every ruling prince, nobleman, landed gentry and other persons of note in India attended to pay homage to their sovereigns.

Lilah attended by her maid outside the tent she stayed in for the durbar

Lilah loved India, where the conventions of the age would normally have restricted her meetings to British officialdom. But she slipped the reins, writing that "the hospitality the Indians lavish on their guests makes one feel ashamed... many of those contemptuously termed 'natives' are far finer than many an Englishman".

King George V and Queen Mary at the Delhi durbar

Lilah took this photograph of the King-Emperor preparing to receive homage from rulers and princes. He is wearing the Imperial Crown of India with eight arches, containing more than 6,000 exquisitely cut diamonds, and covered with sapphires, emeralds and rubies.

Among those attending the durbar was India's only female ruler, the Begum of Bhopal, who is seen with her son walking behind her. The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of the princely state of Bhopal, now part of the modern state of Madhya Pradesh.

The king and queen sat on the marble balcony of the Red Fort

The king and queen appeared at a darshan (a sight) at the jharoka (balcony window) of the Red Fort, to receive half a million or more of the common people who had come to greet them.

Experts say that the sheer scale of the occasion makes other more modern royal events - such as last year's wedding - pale in comparison. Some 20,000 armed men with a wide array of guns took part alongside thousands more imperial service troops and camel corps riders.

India

In pictures: British woman travels to 1911 Delhi durbar

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