Royals dance between stars and under-privileged
mumbai — The Prince of Wales and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, paid tributes to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel here on Saturday.
Prince Charles and Camilla had a busy day in India’s financial and commercial capital, as they met staff members at the hotel, top industrialists, Bollywood personalities and under-privileged children.
The royal couple is on a nineday official tour of India, en route to Colombo where Charles will be chairing the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo.
The couple laid a wreath to commemorate the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks. More than 160 persons were killed in the attacks, many of them at the landmark property opposite the Gateway of India.
Charles met dozens of employees of Taj Mahal including chefs, security staff, waiters, bell boys, telephone operators and managers. The staff members recalled the horrifying events when the hotel was laid siege by four terrorists, who were part of a group of 10 who had sailed to Mumbai from Karachi.
The terrorists, who landed on the night of November 26, 2008, took over two hotels — the Taj and the Oberoi-Trident — opened fire at the busy CST sta- tion and attacked a Jewish centre and a popular eatery in south Mumbai.
The Prince patiently heard the staff members as they recounted how they tried to protect the guests from the gunfire. Some of the security staff also showed him their bullet injuries.
The royal couple also attended a dinner hosted by billionaireindustrialist Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the Reliance group, and Ratan Tata, chairman emeri- tus of the Tata group (which also owns Corus Steel and Jaguar Land Rover).
The dinner was hosted to raise awareness about the British Asian Trust founded by Charles to source donations from rich Britons for good causes in India.
Earlier in the day, Camilla was virtually moved to tears when she met abused children, including rape victims, at a children’s centre in central Mumbai.
The royal couple will par- ticipate in a ‘remembrance day’ event at the St John Evangelist Church and meet war veterans on Sunday. They will then proceed to Pune another such function at the Kirkee cemetery run by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Charles and Camilla are also scheduled to visit the Serum Institute of India in Pune and later attend an event at the Royal Western India Turf Club.