India Prepares To Host William And Kate

The Royal couple will use the visit to help raise money and awareness for charities that help vulnerable children.

India Prepares For William And Kate

India is preparing for the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their first foreign tour of 2016 and the first since the arrival of their second child Princess Charlotte.

A Kensington Palace spokesperson said: "It will be starting a personal relationship with a country that will play a major global role throughout their lives."

Kate and William will start their visit in Mumbai today and pay their respects to the victims of the terrorist attack on the Taj Palace Hotel in 2008.

The luxury hotel, where the Royal couple are staying, will also be the venue for a glittering charity gala later on Sunday evening.

Bollywood's top stars are invited to the event hosted by the British High Commission.

Oval Maidan is a popular area in Mumbai where children play cricket

The gala will raise support and awareness for three children's charities that work with some of India's most deprived and vulnerable youngsters.

Magic Bus is one of them. Set up in 1999 by Briton Matthew Spacie, the charity has helped nearly half a million children gain essential life skills to help them in the future.

The Duke and Duchess will meet some of these children at Mumbai's famous Oval Maidan - a public recreation ground in the heart of the city where the young and the old, the skilled and the learner, gather to play cricket.

Mr Spacie said: "There is a tremendous amount of empathy that I am sure they will feel for the children they meet.

"I think what is interesting is you see something like Magic Bus and you see whilst the children come from different environments, it's so applicable to children all across the world.

"I think really that's what they will take away from this... the universality of what they do."

The Royal couple will visit parts of Mumbai during their tour of India

After Mumbai, the Royals' next stop is New Delhi. Here, they will visit the house where Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.

In the nation's capital they will also mark the Queen's upcoming 90th birthday with a garden party.

They then travel on to Assam province and Kaziranga National Park which is at the forefront of one of William's passions - wildlife conservation.

Two days in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan is next on the itinerary.

The tour wraps up at the Taj Mahal where the Royal couple want to create 'new memories' at the monument where William's mother Princess Diana posed alone for the cameras in 1992.

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