Prince William makes Indian pancake, royal couple meets ‘awestruck’ fan

Britain’s Prince William tried his hand at Indian cookery yesterday after he and wife, Kate, met perhaps their biggest fan in the country, Boman Kohinoor – a dream come true for the 93-year-old.

The Duke of Cambridge spoke with entrepreneurs and inventors in the financial capital, Mumbai, before making the Indian pancake known as a dosa, using an innovative automatic device called DosaMatic.

After watching a demonstration, William gladly poured some batter and waited for the dosa to cook before tasting a bit and declaring it “not bad”, although the Duchess could not be tempted to take a bite.

“The Duke said he would love to have the machine in his palace,” Eshwar Vikas, device inventor and chief executive of Mukunda Foods, told reporters afterwards.

Day two of their tour of the Indian subcontinent came after the royal couple met Kohinoor, owner of Mumbai’s most famous Parsi cafe, on Sunday evening.

Kohinoor, 93, has a strong claim to be India’s biggest fan of the British royal family — giant cardboard cutouts of William and Kate adorn his restaurant — and he told AFP on Friday he was desperate to meet them.

His dream came true after William and Kate were made aware of a social media campaign with the hashtag #WillKatMeetMe, with Kensington Palace tweeting that the couple had been “very touched” and invited him to their hotel.

He spent 10 minutes chatting with them at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel before they enjoyed a glittering charity ball with Bollywood stars.

“I was awestruck. I never expected the prince to be so charming and Princess Kate so beautiful,” Kohinoor told AFP at his restaurant, clutching a photograph of the three of them.

Kohinoor, who gave Kate a bouquet of yellow flowers, admitted he was slightly nervous – although not too much on account of his age.

“I wished them a very rosy future and I sent my good wishes for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and I also requested them to kiss Prince George and Princess Charlotte for me,” he added.

Yesterday, William also got behind the wheel of a racing car simulator as he and Kate chatted with entrepreneurs in Mumbai. The prince met employees of Mahindra Racing, which manufactures Formula One-style electric cars, and tested their latest invention.

William rounded off the morning’s event by making a short speech to launch an awards programme for Indian startups called the Tech Rocketship Awards.

After walking onto the stage, he started by bowing slightly as he put his hands together and said “Namaste (greetings) Mumbai”.