Dolores Arulappan, 85, remembers having waited for almost three hours near the Vidhana Soudha before she could catch what she recollects as a "glimpse" of Queen Elizabeth II in her motorcade. The year was 1961 – the British monarch was in Bengaluru as part of her first visit to India after her accession to the throne, in 1952.
"If I remember correctly, she was wearing a peach-coloured dress," Dolores – who was with her husband, Joe, among the spectators – says, a day after the passing of the UK's longest-serving monarch.
Video footage from the newsreel archive British Pathe shows the governor of Mysore, Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, receiving the queen and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at the airport on their 1961 visit. The queen commemorated her visit to the Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens by planting a sapling.
Writer and jazz guitarist Ramjee Chandran was two at the time of the queen's visit. "I was on my father’s shoulders, on the sidewalk near the Empire Theatre (on MG Road). The memory is extraordinarily vivid and it has stayed with me," he says. In middle school, he could recall the central point of discussion among his family members ahead of the visit – it was the dichotomy of the young, independent nation welcoming the British monarch as a world leader. "I realised later, as I started studying history, that those discussions had also made the day significant for me," he says.
"I was always fascinated by the British royal family and used to collect photographs (of members of the family). Even now, my daughter sends me their pictures," says Dolores, who runs a primary school in Richards Town. Dolores and Joe, who got married in May 1957, were living on Rest House Crescent Road at the time of the queen's visit.
A taste of Bangalore: During her visit to the city, she also dined at Koshy’s on St Mark’s Road. Prem Koshy – who runs the iconic restaurant established in 1952, with his brother Santosh – remembers his father and grandfather describing the monarch as "simple" and "charming". "From what I've heard, the menu had a mix of south Indian with some of our signature dishes including roasted chicken," he said.
Dr Isaac Mathai, founder, and chairman of Soukya, a holistic health and wellness centre in Bengaluru, has frequently interacted with the new monarch, King Charles III; their last meeting happened a few months ago. Remembering his meeting with the queen, Isaac says she was "elegant" and "polite".