Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh on a seven-week tour of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Iran in 1961. The Chicago Tribune reported in January, ahead of her visit, that even the tigers were being prepared. “In India, officials have loosed buffalo calves in a forest near Jaipur to lure tigers in readiness for a hunt, one of the first events on the royal schedule.” This was going to be the first time she would be touring the former colonies which were by then new republics with the commonwealth. This meant that she would not be acknowledged as a monarch. Indian officials were said to be keen to show off the modern India. The queen and Prince Philip also went to the famed Lahore horse and cattle show, and the duke was slated to play polo in India as a reminder that the game originated in that country.
In Pakistan, the royal couple lunched at Malakand Fort in what was then referred to as ‘North West Pakistan’. The queen was taken to the Warsak Dam on the Kabul River, where she was accompanied by the Governor of West Pakistan, Malik Amir Mohammad. Here she is photographed at a garden party in Frere Gardens in Karachi.
The photographs are gelatin silver prints.