It promised to be the defining moment of the tour – an iconic royal image recreated along with a new memory for generations to come and it didn’t disappoint.
William and Kate followed in Princess Diana’s footsteps and posed poignantly on the very bench where she made headlines 24 years ago, the Duchess striking the exact pose William’s mother had been famously photographed in.
Then the photograph was about the disintegration of a marriage, Diana’s anguish and loneliness clear to see. Today it is about a couple happy and in love and very much together as they have been for this whole landmark tour of India and Bhutan.
The couple’s farewell to India could not have been more meaningful as they sat together, knees touching, beaming for the assembled photographers.
At one point as they posed for the media pack William, 33, joked: “I hope you’ve got the symmetry right, Arthur,” to the Sun’s veteran Royal photographer Arthur Edwards, who was among those who had photographed Diana in exactly the same spot 24 years ago.
Kate, wearing a white dress with a royal blue embroidered motif by Indian designer Naeem Khan and her trademark nude patent high heels, followed her husband’s lead in taking off her designer sunglasses before smiling warmly for the cameras.
William, quickly adjusted his blue linen jacket, which he wore over a crisp open neck white shirt with chinos and dark brown suede loafers.
They sat smiling together for 25 seconds before being given a “thumbs up” by their director of communications, signalling that the much-anticipated photo shoot was over.
Half an hour before the royal couple arrived, police had cleared the site directly in front of the 17th century structure so that photographers could get a clear shot.
There were also concerns that William and Kate might be “mobbed” during their walkabout, with 20,000 people from around the world also visiting the Unesco World Heritage site.
With the scorching sun beating down on the 42-acre estate in Agra as temperatures topped 41 degrees Celsius (106F), workers kept dousing the bench in cold water in order to keep it as cool as possible for the royal behinds.
After sitting on the bench the couple were taken on a private tour inside, where they were shown the tombs of Murghal emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal, the beloved wife he commissioned the Taj for in 1631 as a symbol of his eternal love.
Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decoration of graves, so the bodies are laid in a After spending 15 minutes inside the mausoleum, the Duke was asked what the visit had meant to him.
“It’s a beautiful place, stunning designs in there,” he said. The Duchess added: “It’s been really incredible to learn about the romance of the building and it’s really beautiful architecture.”
A royal source said of the visit: “They wanted to come to the Taj because it is one of the wonders of the world. It’s a very good way to finish the tour by promoting one of India’s greatest sights. The Duke is completely aware of the history of this place with his family and he appreciates that a lot of people who come here have his mother in mind. But this is about the future for them, it’s about looking forward and creating new memories.”
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