Queen Elizabeth II passes away: Revisit some defining moments from her historic tours to India

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, died peacefully at her home in Scotland on Thursday (September 8). Queen Elizabeth II was the nation's figurehead and a towering presence on the world stage for seven decades. She was 96. 

People in India paid tribute and mourn the sad demise of Queen Elizabeth II. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "pained" by the death of Queen Elizabeth II, hailing the monarch of his country's former colonial ruler as a paragon of "dignity and decency". 

"Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will be remembered as a stalwart of our times. She provided inspiring leadership to her nation and people. She personified dignity and decency in public life. Pained by her demise. My thoughts are with her family and people of UK in this sad hour," PM Modi wrote on Twitter. 

During her reign, the Queen visited India thrice—in 1961, 1983 and 1997. Her first visit 15 years after India's Independence was eminent and grabbed attention. 

In January 1961, Queen Elizabeth II, along with her husband and Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, visited the national capital. It was a historic visit with multiple firsts. 

Queen Elizabeth II and Philip had also visited Rajghat. They offered a ceremonial wreath at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial. Before entering the memorial area at Rajghat, the Queen and her husband took off their footwear and replaced them with velvet slippers. 

During her first visit, the Queen and Prince Philip had also visited Agra, Bombay (now Mumbai), Benares (now Varanasi), Udaipur, Jaipur, Bangalore (now Bengaluru), Madras (now Chennai) and Calcutta (now Kolkata). 

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited India together again in 1983 and 1997. Besides that, the Duke of Edinburgh also visited India in 1959.

In 1983, then-President of India Giani Zail Singh invited the Queen and Prince Philip to visit the country. They accepted the invitation and this time they stayed at the refurbished wing of the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Queen presented Mother Teresa with an honorary Order of Merit. 

When she visited India in 1997, to mark India's 50th year of independence from British colonial rule, the Queen visited the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial at Amritsar. 

During her third visit to the country to mark the 50th anniversary of India's Independence, Queen Elizabeth visited the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial at Amritsar. 

At that time, Queen had acknowledged, "It is no secret that there have been some difficult episodes in our past. Jallianwala Bagh is a distressing example".