When the King was proclaimed EMPEROR! Remarkable pictures show George V and Queen Mary’s magnificent 1911 Delhi Durbar, when 100,000 Indians paid homage to the monarch (whose specially made £6m crown has never been worn since)
- Event took place in Delhi’s Coronation Park in December 1911
- King and Queen wore regalia that had been made by royal jewellers
- READ MORE: Camilla to wear 112-year-old Queen Mary’s Crown at coronation
It was a royal ceremony unequalled in splendour and spectacle – an Emperor and Empress marking their succession in front of thousands of loyal Indian subjects.
The Delhi Durbar of 1911 was staged to pay homage to the newly-enthroned King George V and Queen Mary, when India was still the jewel in the crown of the British Empire.
Dozens of local Indian rulers were among the 100,000 or so who massed at Delhi’s Coronation Park to show their loyalty to the King-Emperor.
One, the Begum of Bhopal, stood out for the simple reason that she was veiled from head to foot.
The Delhi Durbar of 1911 was held to pay homage to the newly-crowned King George V and Queen Mary, when India was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire
There were dozens of local Indian rulers among the 100,000 who massed to show their loyalty to the crown. Above: The Nizam of Hyderabad pays homage to King George and Queen Mary in their roles as Emperor and Empress of India
The King and Queen sit on the their thrones in the Durbar arena as princely pages sit and stand behind them
The Delhi Durbar was held inside Coronation Park on the edge of the ancient Mughal city. This which was also the venue for Queen Victoria’s Durbar in 1877
She and thousands of others watched as George – with the specially made Imperial Crown of India on his head – expressed ‘genuine feelings of thankfulness and satisfaction’ for the warm welcome he and Queen Mary had received.
The visit, described as ‘triumphant’ by biographer Kenneth Rose, had been entirely the King’s idea.
The first Durbar had come into being after Queen Victoria was created Empress of India in 1877.
Victoria never visited the country, so the Viceroy of India attended in her place in that year.
After his own crowning in 1902, Edward VII did not attend his Durbar either and it went ahead in his absence.
It meant that King George’s trip in 1911-12 marked the first time that a British monarch – in his or her status as Emperor or Empress – had visited their largest realm.
Following his magnificent Coronation in Westminster Abbey, the King had been keen to present himself to his millions of Indian subjects.
After overcoming their initial reluctance, ministers agreed to the trip, on the basis that the monarch’s official task while there would be to announce two major administrative changes.
First, the capital of India was to be moved from Calcutta to Delhi, and second, the partition of Bengal would come to an end.
Whilst the King had wanted to crown himself in the sight of his people, ministers were opposed on the basis that such an overtly Christian act would be misplaced in a land largely made up of Hindus and Muslims.
Instead, they agreed that the King would arrive at the Durbar with the crown already on his head.
However, the law stated that the Crown Jewels could not legally leave the United Kingdom without an Act of Parliament, and so a new crown was made for the King.
The King and Queen on the balcony of the historic Red Fort during the Durbar celebrations
The Imperial Crown of India (left) and Queen Mary’s Delhi Durbar Tiara. The tiara went on display at at Buckingham Palace in 2012 to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
Crown jeweller Garrard and Co were asked to make the new crown, which was set with 6,100 diamonds as well as rubies and emeralds.
Designed in March, it was completed by October and cost £60,000 – the equivalent of around £6million today.
The Daily Mail’s coverage of the Durbar
However, despite the fact that the cost was met by the Indian people, the crown was not allowed to remain in India after the Durbar, due to fears it could be seized by a usurper or dissident.
Instead, it was kept safely in the Tower of London, where it remains today with the rest of the Crown Jewels.
Queen Mary wore a suite of jewels – known as the Delhi Durbar Parure – made up of objects set with diamonds and emeralds.
All were created specially for the event in India by Garrard and Co.
On her head was the Delhi Durbar Tiara. She also wore emerald and diamond cluster earrings and a series of similarly glittering necklaces.
On her death in 1953, the entire Parure passed to Queen Elizabeth II. The tiara has since been worn in public on many occasions by the Queen Consort Camilla.
The Durbar itself was intricately planned. More than 40,000 tents were built to house those in attendance, although not all will have been carpeted and silk-lined like the King and Queen’s were.
Whilst local Indian princes had advised that the King should arrive in Delhi on an elephant – synonymous as it was with imperial rule – it was decided that, for reasons of security, the monarch should ride a horse.
Unfortunately, the King, dressed as he was in Field Marshal’s uniform and a white sun helmet that obscured much of his face, was hard to spot as he rode into Delhi on the small brown horse that he had chosen.
An equerry later told how a ‘good many did not recognise him.’
But the understated arrival was quickly forgotten when, five days later, on December 12, Delhi witnessed the most incredible spectacle in Indian history.
The King and Queen sat on a raised platform that made them visible to all in the specially-built arena inside Coronation Park.
The Daily Mail told how, ‘hand in hand the Emperor and Empress descended from their thrones and walked in stately procession to the Central Pavilion beneath the golden dome.
‘Their diadems blazed in the sun. Over their heads were the shimmering symbols of their imperial estate – the Umbrella, the Fan and the Mace.
‘Princes bore their purple trains, in company with a brilliant following of military and civil officers.’
The newspaper added: ‘It is the universal opinion that the Durbar has never been equalled in splendour as a spectacle, in political significance or in fervour of popular emotion.’
The King himself described the Durbar as ‘the most beautiful and wonderful sight I ever saw’.
One local ruler, the female Begum of Bhopal, was veiled from head to foot for the Durbar
King George V and Queen Mary, attended by young Indian princes, are seen on the balcony of the Red Fort for the Durbar held in honour of the King’s accession to the throne
King George and Queen Mary pass through the amphitheatre in a horse-drawn carriage
Thousands of Indian soldiers paraded in Coronation Park for the Durbar
George V (front right), the first Emperor to visit India, enters Delhi on horseback
The Durbar was intricately planned. More than 40,000 tents were built for those taking part. A tiny number of tents, such as those used by the King and Queen, were silk-lined and carpeted
George’s arrival in Delhi for the third and final royal Durbar was marked by a majestic procession. It marked the first time he had come to the country as Emperor
The Bengal Lancers, one of the most Indian famous regiments, takes part in the Durbar
Though he did also say in his diary how he was ‘rather tired’ after wearing his new crown for three and a half hours, which he said ‘hurt my head, as it is pretty heavy.’
The event was only marred by a single display of apparent disloyalty. The Gaekwar of Baroda – one of the many Indian princes in attendance – gave only a single bow and then turned his back on the Emperor and Empress.
When the offensiveness of the slight was made clear to the prince, he apologised to the King.
Although he accepted, the King was said to have remained unconvinced of the Gaekwar’s good faith.
The King told in his speech to his subjects of his ‘genuine feelings of thankfulness and satisfaction’ for the warm welcome he and Queen Mary received.
He said he was ‘anxious’ to show his and the Queen’s ‘affection’ for the ‘loyal Princes and faithful Peoples of India’.
The King also spoke of his ‘sincere pleasure’ at the massed audience of rulers, officials and ordinary subjects.
But, once he had done his duty, the King embarked on a hunting trip that would now bring shame on any member of the Royal Family.
In Nepal – which was then part of British India – he pursued tigers, rhinoceroses and bears to deadly effect.
Photos of the expedition show he had significant success in his killing escapade, which even then was frowned upon by some officials.
In total, the King killed 21 tigers, eight rhinoceroses and one bear. He later boasted how it was a ‘record’ that would be ‘hard to beat’.
King George’s Durbar marked the first and last time that a British monarch was there in person to be hailed as Emperor by their Indian subjects.
Tens of thousands of ordinary Indian subjects packed into Coronation Park t
The King, seen with a rifle, would later embark on a hunting trip, including this tiger shoot. In Nepal – which was then part of British India – he also pursued rhinoceroses and bears
In total, the King killed 21 tigers, eight rhinoceroses and one bear. He later boasted it was a record that would be hard to beat. Above: The King stands over some of the tigers he killed
The Durbar that had been planned for George VI – who became King after his brother Edward VIII abdicated – was postponed several times.
This was partly due to a reluctance to burden the Indian taxpayer with the cost and also because of the increasing political difficulties of arranging such a display amid an increasing clamour for India to be independent.
The onset of the Second World War then meant that any visit became impossible.
In 1947, two years after the war had ended, India became a self-governing nation the ceremony that his father had enjoyed – hailed as it was for its unmatched majesty – became a symbol of another age.
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