Remarks by Duke of Edinburgh in 1997 had sparked anger in India

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, travelled to India four times, thrice as the consort of Queen Elizabeth II, but hit the headlines during his last visit in 1997 for his comments on the number of casualties in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru received Prince Philip during his first visit in January 1959. He was then better known in New Delhi as the nephew of Louis Mountbatten, India’s last viceroy.

He subsequently accompanied Queen Elizabeth to India in 1961, 1983 and 1997.

The 1997 visit took place amid a diplomatic row and long remained in Indian public memory for Prince Philip reportedly questioning the number of deaths in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre during a visit to the memorial in Amritsar. It is considered one of his many gaffes.

The backdrop of the 1997 visit was no less controversial. Hours before Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip landed in New Delhi, then prime minister IK Gujral reportedly told a meeting of Egyptian intellectuals in Cairo that Britain was a “third-rate power”. Gujral was said to be livid at then foreign secretary Robin Cook for suggesting during a visit to Pakistan that Britain might mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, and used the “third-rate power” phrase first mentioned by Lord Curzon.