In Princess Diana's footsteps, William and Kate visit Taj Mahal

By Reuters   April 16, 2016 | 06:34 am PT
Where Princess Diana went alone, her son Prince William visited the Taj Mahal with his wife Kate on Saturday, bringing the British royal couple's week-long South Asian tour to a poignant close.
In Princess Diana's footsteps, William and Kate visit Taj Mahal

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, pose as they sit in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, April 16, 2016.

In Princess Diana's footsteps, William and Kate visit Taj Mahal

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, pose at the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, April 16, 2016. 

In Princess Diana's footsteps, William and Kate visit Taj Mahal

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, pose as they sit in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, April 16, 2016.

In Princess Diana's footsteps, William and Kate visit Taj Mahal

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, April 16, 2016. 

In Princess Diana's footsteps, William and Kate visit Taj Mahal

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, pose as they sit in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, April 16, 2016. 

In Princess Diana's footsteps, William and Kate visit Taj Mahal

Diana, Princess of Wales sits in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, in this file photograph dated 11, 1992. 

In Princess Diana's footsteps, William and Kate visit Taj Mahal

More than two decades after Britain's Princess Diana was pictured forlornly alone at the Taj Mahal, her son Prince William and his wife Kate visit the Indian landmark, evoking memories of his mother's infamous 1992 trip. 

William and Kate sat side by side on the same bench where his late mother was photographed on a solitary visit in 1992.

Kate wore a slimline white dress with a circular navy pattern while William braved intense afternoon heat in a blazer and open-neck shirt.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were rounding off a tour in which they met another glamorous young royal couple, the king and queen of Bhutan, and saw rhinos and elephants in a national park in Assam.

The final stop at the Taj Mahal was an emotional one for William, who was 15 when Diana died in a car crash in 1997. He has often spoken of how much he misses his mother, and that he thinks of her every day.

Diana's solo visit to the 17th-century mausoleum - built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife - came to symbolize her unhappy marriage to Prince Charles.

The couple separated months later.

Three of the Taj Mahal's four minarets were swathed in scaffolding for repairs. Still, images of William and Kate sitting before the onion-domed monument, its ivory colored marble translucent in the afternoon sunshine, were striking.

It was raining earlier in the day when the couple flew out of Bhutan's only international airport, a day after they trekked to a Buddhist monastery 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) up a mountain.

They landed in Agra in afternoon temperatures that reached 41 degrees Celsius (105.8F). Much of India is suffering a heat wave and severe drought after two years of failed monsoon rains. 

 
 
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