A day after taking part in the inaugural ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, Prince Charles and his wife and the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla, arrived here on Monday for a day's visit to Punjab.
The Prince headed to the Punjab Raj Bhavan and later visited the solar passive building of the Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA). He also joined a discussion among policy-makers, architects, realtors and academics on how to manage urban environments in a way that promotes efficient use of resources and build social capital at the PEDA.
The Prince later visited Hansali village in Fatehgarh Sahib district, 70 km from here, to visit the organic farm of Sukhchain Singh Gill, who has set up polyhouse farming in a one-kanal plot funded by the Farmers' Commission.
“I am honoured, and even though there will be no personal gain for me from this VIP visit, it will certainly help this type of farming,” Mr. Gill said.
Ms. Camilla visited St. Stephen's School here and spoke via live internet video chatting to students at the Park View School in Haringey, north London, which is twinned with St. Stephen's.
She also visited an exhibition of models based on environment-related issues and another exhibition on various festivals and cuisines put up by students of schools falling under the UKIERI (UK-India Education and Research Initiative) Punjab Himachal Cluster.
The royal couple had dinner at the New Moti Bagh Palace in Patiala, 70 km from here, as guests of the former Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, and his wife, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, who belong to the erstwhile royal family of Patiala. Unlike in 2006, the visit of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall will be a “closed-door affair” at the New Moti Bagh Palace.
Ms. Kaur had earlier announced that the Prince and the Duchess were on a personal visit and had expressed their willingness to visit the palace.
The couple will fly to Jaipur on Tuesday morning.
