By Ravi Khandelwal

London, Oct 27 (ANI): The reception ceremony organized in honour of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil by Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle was filled with all royal grandeur.

Prince Charles at the royal dais received the Indian president, who arrived along with her husband Dr Devi Singh Sekhawat. She then met the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

President Patil and her husband accompanied by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh then arrived in a carriage procession at Quadrangle of Windsor Castle with a sovereign’s Escort of the Household Calvary.

This was the second meeting between President Patil and Queen Elizabeth II. President Patil met the Queen for the first time in the late eighties as the Deputy Chairperson Rajya Sabha.

The King’s Royal Horse Artillery gave a royal salute to the visiting Indian President.

President Patil became the first non-royal to stay at the Windsor Castle. She will receive the Commonwealth baton from the Queen at a grand function in Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.

President Patil wants to take India-UK relations to a new level since the two countries entered into a strategic partnership in 2004. This the first visit by an Indian President to the UK in two decades. (ANI)