Buckingham Palace was illuminated with an image of a peacock – the national bird of India and numerous dancing figures. Buckingham Palace was lit to celebrate UK-India Year of Culture.
Alan Gemmell, British Council India director, said: “It isn’t every day that you have the opportunity to project an image onto the façade of Buckingham Palace. The peacock, both regal and dramatic, is the perfect metaphor for a year of incredible cultural events connecting UK and India.”
The Queen was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge. Other guests included Arun Jaitley, Kamal Haasan, Manish Malhotra, Kapil Dev, violin maestro L Subramaniam and India’s high commissioner YK Sinha.
Royal chef Mark Flanagan and Veeraswamy chef Uday Salunkhe led a team to prepare a spread of canapés that were examples of the best British and Indian cultures.
Several events have been planned across Britain and India to mark the year of culture, which was announced during the November 2015 visit to London of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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