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KING CHARLES AND CAMILLA NOW IN BANGALORE ON A SECRET VISIT. RECALLING MY ‘ROYAL SCOOP’ IN 1992

By P.T. Bopanna

The secret visit of King Charles and wife Camilla to Bengaluru for undergoing wellness treatment at a health centre in Whitefield, brought back my memories when I managed to get a royal scoop as I was the only reporter covering his visit to the British Council Library on St. Mark’s Road in 1992.

The royal couple have been in Bengaluru since October 27 and scheduled to exit on October 30.

Way back in 1992, Prince Charles was visiting the British Council Library which was then located on top of the Koshy’s Café.

It was around that time rumours had begun floating in the British press on the troubled marriage of Charles and Princess Diana. I thought it was a good idea to cover the visit of the Prince.

But there was a hassle. Very few guests were invited for the function which was barred to the media. I had heard from my colleagues that on the previous day when news photographers tried to get too close to the Prince, they were pushed around by a six feet tall lady who was part of the British security.

I was then working for the Times of India, Bangalore. I knew the British Council librarian Dandapani. Though entry was barred to the press, I casually walked in. The policemen on duty presumed I was an official from their department in plainclothes deployed for the security of the Prince. My looks those days were misleading and I was often mistaken for a police official.

When the Prince walked in, I was hovering around him. The guests had lined up in the library. He shook hands with each guest in the receiving line and exchanged pleasantries.

If I remember correct, it was when he was greeting writer Poile Sengupta the latter mentioned that Princess Diana was not there with him, though it was a Valentine’s Day. Charles had a hearty laugh and moved on!

Those days, very few talked about Valentine’s Day unlike now. It was during that visit, that differences between the royal couple became an open secret after Princess Diana visited the Taj Mahal and sat alone on the bench.

Coming back to my story, my chief reporter, the late E. Raghavan was very pleased that I could get an ‘exclusive’ report on the Charles visit to the library which was published in the paper the next day.

Source: Round And About with P.T. Bopanna, Rolling Stone Publications, 2022. Paperback copies available on Amazon.