At New Delhi's Palam Airport this week 25-pounders blasted out a 31-gun salute. Into the blazing heat stepped Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, cool and stiff in his starched, white Rear Admiral's uniform. The Rajputana Rifles band played God Save the King. Soon after, Mountbatten, his Lady and daughter Pamela reached the wide gate of the massive Viceroy's House. The Mountbattens entered a carriage drawn by plume-decked horses and, escorted by gold-turbaned, scarlet-coated guards, were driven the few hundred feet to the crimson-carpeted steps of the Durbar Hall.
Behind them the gates opened...