Photograph of guests arriving at the Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad for the State banquet. At the front walk Prince Edward of Wales alongside his host, Mir Osman Ali Khan, the Nizam of Hyderbad. Behind them walk members of the Royal party on a carpet flanked by the Palace Guard who hold sabres. In the background are the Italianate porticos and balustrades that are the main feature of the Chowmahalla palace. 

On October 26 1921, Edward, Prince of Wales left Portsmouth to begin a tour of the Indian Subcontinent and Japan that covered 41,000 miles, lasting 8 months. Prince Edward spent four months in India, travelling from Bombay to Calcutta and then from Madras to Karachi. As the British Empire's Ambassador, the Prince visited India on behalf of his father King George V, to thank the nation for the essential role it had played during the First World War. Moreover, the visit was intended to strengthen links between Britain and its Empire at a time of increasing calls for Indian independence.