In 1911, a young Anglo-Irish aristocrat, Lilah Wingfield, set off for India to witness the only durbar - or ceremonial gathering - ever to be attended by a British monarch. She gained a remarkable insight into the workings of colonial India.

Lilah notes in her diaries what it was like to see the elaborate week-long series of ceremonies to celebrate George V's enthronement as Emperor of India.

Lilah Wingfield arrived in Bombay harbour on 28 November 1911. She took this picture with her Kodak from her cabin porthole.

After a two-day train journey from Bombay, Lilah arrived on the outskirts of Delhi where she travelled on the Grand Trunk Road to get to the tournament.

The entrance gate to the tented city where the durbar was held was emblazoned with the words "India Greets Your Imperial Majesties". Historians argue that the durbar marked the zenith of colonial rule in India

The durbar consisted of a huge tented city at Coronation Park in Delhi established to proclaim King George V and Queen Mary as Emperor and Empress of India - and, without public forewarning, the shifting of India's capital from Calcutta to Delhi.

The ruling princes and their entourages arrived by trains especially designated to transport them to the durbar. Practically every ruling prince, nobleman, landed gentry and other persons of note in India attended to pay homage to their sovereigns.

Lilah loved India, where the conventions of the age would normally have restricted her meetings to British officialdom. But she slipped the reins, writing that "the hospitality the Indians lavish on their guests makes one feel ashamed... many of those contemptuously termed 'natives' are far finer than many an Englishman".

Lilah took this photograph of the King-Emperor preparing to receive homage from rulers and princes. He is wearing the Imperial Crown of India with eight arches, containing more than 6,000 exquisitely cut diamonds, and covered with sapphires, emeralds and rubies.

Among those attending the durbar was India's only female ruler, the Begum of Bhopal, who is seen with her son walking behind her. The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of the princely state of Bhopal, now part of the modern state of Madhya Pradesh.

The king and queen appeared at a darshan (a sight) at the jharoka (balcony window) of the Red Fort, to receive half a million or more of the common people who had come to greet them.