Radiant Princess of Wales stuns in winter white coat on go to to Leicester the day after Hindu spring pageant
The Princess of Wales enjoyed Indian dancing, tasted ‘chai’ and visited family businesses on Leicester’s ‘Golden Mile’ during a visit to highlight Britain’s Indian community today.
On an away day to the Midlands, the Princess of Wales met people who have this week been marking Holi, the Indian festival of colours, love and spring, as she celebrated the city’s diversity, creativity and heritage.
Her first stop was a visit the Aakash Odedra Company, an organisation which helps more than 1,000 people a week through its range of community dance programmes.
The company was founded in Leicester in 2011 by Aakash Odedra, an award-winning choreography and dancer, with a mission to create ‘a happier and healthier society through dance and the arts’.
The dance company recently joined forces with the charity Move Against Cancer, offering Bollywood dance classes to those recovering from the disease.
The Princess last year announced that she was in remission from cancer following a diagnosis in early 2024.
Following a course of chemotherapy, the 44-year-old has made a gradual return to royal duties.
On her solo visit to Leicester today, Kate visited a community centre where she was shown some Bollywood dancing and given a separate solo performance by Birmingham-born Odedra.
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
The Princess of Wales arrives at the Aakash Odedra Company in Leicester this morning
He is trained in Bharatanatyam and Kathak dance styles and lived in India where he became a student of Shiamak Davar, a renowned Bollywood choreographer.
Odedra, who continues to perform across the world, showed the princess a rehearsal of his latest work, ‘Songs of the Bulbul’.
This is an interpretation of an ancient Sufi story about a captured songbird, or bulbul, which sings an exquisite tune before perishing from despair.
The show was created with choreographer Rani Khanam and composer Ranjan, the associate artist of the Royal Albert Hall.
Odedra combines Ranjan’s new score, played by a live orchestra from Manchester Camerata, and the voice of Abi Sampa in a show that features music, dance and the poetry traditions of Sufism.
Afterwards, Kate took a five-minute walk down to local Sari shop Ladlees on the Golden Mile on the city’s Belgrave Road, one of the streets in the UK with the highest concentration of shops and restaurants offering Indian jewellery, fashion and sweets.
She then crossed the road to try some chai in Bobby’s restaurant, a family-run business named after a 1973 Bollywood film.
