2-981-776 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Cinghalese Chiefs waiting for the Prince of Wales at Kandy, Ceylon, from a sketch by one of our special artists, 1876. Royal visit of the future King Edward VII. 'Takiri Banda of Panabokke, President of Tribunal, Dumbera; Giragama, Ratemahatmeya of Yatimwera; John Richard Paranagama, Ratemahatmeya of Jumpane (a Christian)...the Prince during the evening chatted freely with the Kandyan chiefs, almost all of whom speak English fluently...Most of these chiefs were portly in person, putting aside the addition due to their skirts, of graceful, pleasant aspect...round the waists was a broad embroidered gold belt...The jackets were made of superbly rich and stiff brocaded silk...No two out of the twenty chiefs present had the same pattern or coloured brocade'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.