A drawing showing King George V and Queen Mary walking down a flight of steps attended by an Indian official with a parasol; with crowds on the balconies around. Inscribed below: Arrival at Calcutta [Kolkata].

In December 1911 King George V and Queen Mary were proclaimed Emperor and Empress of India at the Delhi Durbar. (A durbar is a court or official reception held, traditionally, by an Indian ruler.) Almost all of the ruling princes and noblemen of India, in addition to thousands of other Indian dignitaries, attended in order to pay obeisance to the symbolic heads of British colonial power. As part of their tour of British India, the royal couple visited Calcutta on 30th December. On 7th January the Calcutta Pageant was mounted in their honour at the Maidan (nicknamed the Hyde Park of Calcutta). See RCIN 931140, 931141.

The artist and illustrator George Percy Jacomb-Hood trained at the Slade School of Art and in Paris before becoming artist-correspondent of the Graphic. It was in this role that he accompanied several royal visits to India at the start of the century. In October 1911 he travelled as part of the Royal suite to India on HMS Medina with King George V and Queen Mary; the high-point of the tour was the Delhi Durbar. The Investiture of the Star of India took place two days later, on the 14 December; this ceremony is the subject of Jacomb-Hood's painting, RCIN 407144.