The 1911 Delhi Durbar was perhaps the biggest show of the British Raj. The British Empire’s most important people came to the ceremony to celebrate King George V’s coronation as King-Emperor of India. It cost around a million pounds and took a year of planning to carry out. The Rajas and Nawabs from every princely state in India were there, and it was here, in the middle of the Raj’s pomp and grandeur, that it was declared that the capital of British India would move from Calcutta to Delhi.

We have a lot of pictures of the Durbar, but Pathé News also sent us some amazing films. Charles Pathé started Pathé News in 1896. From 1910 until the 1970s, the company produced newsreels from all around the British Empire. The name of the corporation is now British Pathé, and it has put all of its archives on YouTube so that anybody may see them. British Pathé brings this rare video of the Delhi Durbar to life.

The Delhi Durbar occurred in Coronation Park, situated on Shanti Swaroop Tyagi Marg, Model Town in North Delhi today. A memorial obelisk is situated precisely at the location where King George and Queen sat. This film depicts the grounds and troops prepared to welcome the royal pair, Indian princes entering in their grandeur on elephant back, followed by the arrival of King George V and Queen Mary for the Durbar, accompanied by their retinue. It was December, the only occasion when one may don the rich coronation robes often worn by the King and Queen.

The Begum of Bhopal

Among the more intriguing attendees at the Durbar was Begum Sultan Jahan of Bhopal, the only female sovereign there to honor the King-Emperor. The Begum, prominently obscured in this movie, descended from a lineage of female sovereigns who governed Bhopal. She donned an unusual burkha, which some observers said resembled a mobile tent. No recordings of the Begum of Bhopal at the Durbar are available; however, there exists a British Pathé film of her visit to London in 1921.

The Uncommon Hue Video

This is the only rare color film of the Delhi Durbar – the sole surviving clip available for viewing. Charles Urban, an Anglo-American film maker, created a color documentary capturing the events of the 1911 Delhi Durbar. This was also shown in Buckingham Palace. Only a single ten-minute reel of the original documentary remains. It is one of the earliest color documentaries in existence.

The Delhi Durbar was a pivotal moment, as King George V used this event to declare the relocation of the capital to Delhi. This prompted a substantial construction push, resulting in the planning and establishment of a new metropolis. Lutyens’ Delhi, as it exists now, was designed to emulate the magnificence of the Mughal Empire, infused with a classical Western aesthetic. However, within 36 years after the Delhi Durbar, the British were compelled to withdraw from India. New Delhi was established as the capital of Independent India.

Ironically, the setting of the Grand Durbar is now unremarkable. Coronation Park is a neglected, dusty park located in North Delhi.