Modi gifts Tanchoi stoles, Darjeeling tea to Queen Elizabeth II

In a rare and royal moment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Friday and had the pleasure of sharing a private lunch with her highness.

Modi swept to power in 2014 on promises to develop India’s economy and root out the corruption and incompetence that had crippled the previous government.

Their meeting at Buckingham Palace is scheduled for November 25.

The prime minister also gifted the Queen award-winning Darjeeling tea from the Makaibari tea estate in West Bengal, organic honey from Jammu and Kashmir, and Tanchoi stoles, a speciality of Varanasi.

“British companies in India will be a win-win partnership for both countries”.

A photograph showing Modi in conversation with the British monarch inside Buckingham Palace was also attached to the tweet.

The two countries have announced 9 billion pounds ($14 billion) in business deals during the trip. She was hosting lunch for him. Late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was caught on camera doing a pirouette behind her in 1977 as he took part in a summit in London.

“Building on the bonds of history”.

These included photographs of the Queen dating back to her India visit when she was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day parade in 1961. Thursday Cameron received a letter signed by 200 writers urging him to challenge Modi on their concerns over free speech in India and its “rising climate of fear”.

Each pair of bookends has a silver bell which symbolises inner wisdom and is engraved with a Sanskrit verse from the Bhagavad Gita along with its English rendering, an official statement said.

He then left for Wembley, where he is to address 60,000 people, mostly British-Indian.

This will be followed by a reception in his honour by India’s High Commissioner to Britain, Ranjan Mathai.