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Royal fan urges Prince Harry, Meghan Markle to have Indian honeymoon and many kids

Royal fan urges Prince Harry, Meghan Markle to have Indian honeymoon and many kids

The 95-year-old Boman Kohinoor regularly writes to the Queen and would like the British colonial rule to return in India
29 Nov, 2017

Mumbai cafe owner Boman Kohinoor, arguably India's biggest fan of the British royal family, wants Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to honeymoon in India and have lots of children.

The 95-year-old, who met Harry's older brother William and wife Catherine when the royal couple visited India's commercial capital last year, said he was delighted to hear news of the engagement.

“I wish them a very long and happy married life. And may all their troubles be little ones,” the sprightly nonagenarian told AFP at Mumbai's famous Britannia & Company restaurant where his love of British royalty is plain to see.

On one wall hangs a large framed photograph of Queen Elizabeth II, next to a portrait of Indian independence hero Mahatma Gandhi.

Attached to a banister on the second floor of the cafe, which dishes up lip-smacking Parsi and Irani cuisine, is a giant cardboard cut-out of a grinning William and Kate, their arms linked.

Kohinoor spent around 10 minutes with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace hotel in April 2016 after they became aware of a social media campaign encouraging them to meet him.

Kohinoor, clutching a photo of the three of them from that meeting, said he now hoped to meet Harry, 33, and American actress Markle, 36, after they get married at Windsor Castle next spring.

“I hope they will visit me or I will invite them to visit me. My invitation is open for all of the royal family,” he explained, adding that he would serve them Britannia's famous berry pulao, a popular Parsi dish.

Mumbai's Parsi settlers were Zoroastrians from Persia. In Britannia, which was opened by Kohinoor's father in 1923, the Union Jack hangs alongside the Indian tricolour and the flag of Iran.

Kohinoor, who has written regular letters to Queen Elizabeth over the years and would like the return of British colonial rule in India, encouraged Harry and Meghan to spend their honeymoon there.

“There are many places they can visit. We have got one of the wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal,” he said, adding he was “very excited” about the prospect of watching the wedding on television.

Kohinoor, who makes no attempt to hide his dislike of Harry's father and heir to the throne Prince Charles, said he was not overly familiar with Markle's work but was aware she is American and divorced.

He said he was convinced she would “make a good wife”.

“Mrs Simpson was American and she was also a divorcee but it doesn't matter. What matters is that they should be happy together,” he said, referring to Wallis Simpson who married King Edward VIII after he abdicated in 1936.

Kohinoor, who has a granddaughter named after Harry's mother Princess Diana, advised the prince and Markle to have several children.

“It will be cheaper by the dozen!” he laughed.

Comments

Babu Nov 29, 2017 04:03pm
This guy must seek citizenship of England and the queen should offer him home, let him be happy in his ripe old age.
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Jalal AGA Nov 29, 2017 04:07pm
Satak gaya hai oldie
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LILLY Nov 29, 2017 04:18pm
Mad old man.
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Asif Kashmiri Nov 29, 2017 05:38pm
Interesting - let him do what he wants to
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JawAd pakistan Nov 29, 2017 05:58pm
He is 95 please excuse him your highness.
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waleed fakhar Nov 29, 2017 06:26pm
He is correct. I back and bolster him in this ; P
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disagreed Nov 29, 2017 06:27pm
@LILLY . Not Mad at all. He has experienced the British Raj , and experienced post independence, comparing the two, he knows which "Raj" was better.
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Jamil Soomro, NEW YORK CITY Nov 29, 2017 07:13pm
Shows the brown man's slave mentality as the British used to say.He doesn't want to be Master of his own Motherland?
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Ahsan Gul Nov 29, 2017 07:22pm
Well, this old guy has good jesters for the royal UK family. But he must prepare himself also to a no return journey also.
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mojazze Nov 29, 2017 07:47pm
Kind of cheap publicity
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kerala Nov 29, 2017 10:44pm
Typical 95 yr old generation where women are just baby producing machines
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syedchaudhrygangadinkhan Dec 03, 2017 01:38pm
Calm down and wait. This marriage may not even happen and if by chance it does happen, it may not last.
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