Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned for 70 years and was the longest serving monarch in British history, visited India three times - in 1961, 1983 and 1997.
It was during her second visit in the year 1983, when Queen Elizabeth II addressed the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre for the first time. She was visiting India to mark the 50th anniversary celebrations of Independence from British colonial rule. The monarch made a reference to ‘difficult episodes’ of colonial history and said: “It is no secret that there have been some difficult episodes in our past. Jallianwala Bagh is a distressing example,” in her banquet address.
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Queen Elizabeth II, who died aged 96 on Thursday, was the first British monarch to accede to the throne after India’s Independence from colonial rule in 1952.
In 1961, the Queen and her husband, the late Prince Phillip - Duke of Edinburgh, toured Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata - then Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. She also visited the Taj Mahal in Agra and paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat.
{{/usCountry}}In 1961, the Queen and her husband, the late Prince Phillip - Duke of Edinburgh, toured Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata - then Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. She also visited the Taj Mahal in Agra and paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat.
{{/usCountry}}On the queen’s demise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called her 'a stalwart of our times.' Paying tribute, he said that "she personified dignity and decency in public life,” in a tweet.
Earlier on Thursday, PM Modi unveiled a statue of freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate to replace that of Britain's king George V - the queen's grandfather. George V’s statue was torn down nearly half a century ago. Last week, the Prime Minister also unveiled a new naval ensign that removed the prominent St George's cross - the national emblem of England - from the existing flag.
With PTI and AFP inputs