As London celebrated the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla the British Deputy High Commission Kolkata also marked the occasion yesterday with a celebratory evening reception.
The reception was attended by eminent personalities from the state government, business leaders, climate activists, UK alumni, differently-abled sportspersons and other figures from the field of academics, cinema and tourism. One of the key themes for the celebration reception in Kolkata was sustainability.
The event was carbon neutral and financed verified carbon removal and avoidance projects in Eastern India that are producing carbon credits. A QR code was generated and guests voted for their preferred carbon reducing project.
These projects are helping to offset the emissions from the event, which even included travel-related emissions of guests. One of the highlights of the reception was an exclusive platter of British food which included the coronation quiche, coronation chicken, welsh lamb cawl, fish and chips, apple cinnamon pie et al, according to the acting British deputy high commissioner to Kolkata, Peter Cook.
Notably, the newly coronated King has undertaken 10 official visits to India as Prince of Wales; the first in 1980 to Kolkata and most recently in November 2019 when he visited New Delhi and Mumbai.