The much-awaited royal wedding between Prince Harry and Hollywood actress Meghan Markle holds a special place for the famous Dabbawalas of Mumbai, who have decided to gift a Maharashtrian wedding attire to the couple.
Courtesy to their friendship with Prince Harry's father, Prince Charles, the Mumbai Dabbawalas Association bought a Paithani saree, a salwar kurta, complete with a kolhapuri pheta -a traditional Marathi wedding attire- from the same shop where they bought the wedding gift for Prince Charles and his second wife, Camilla Parker back in 2005.
The Dabbawalas' relationship with the British royal family goes back to 2003 when Prince Charles visited Mumbai. Since then, a special friendship was forged and the Dabbawalas even attended his second wedding.
As the Dabbawalas sat sifting through a range of products at the Baba Samarth Collection shop in Mumbai's Lalbaug, Subhash Talekar, Spokesperson of Mumbai Dabbawalas Association told ANI, "When Prince Charles came to Mumbai, he met with us.
Since then, our friendship began. When he married Camilla (Parker) after the death of Diana madam, we thought our friend is getting married and we gifted them a traditional Marathi attire. He loved the gift and also invited two Dabbawalas, so the Dabbawalas attended the royal wedding."
Mumbai Dabbawallahs have decided to present a Maharashtrian wedding attire to Meghan Markle & Prince Harry for their royal wedding. #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/UqVOEJ7QPR
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2018
The Dabbawalas have not been invited this time, but it hasn't dimmed their excitement or their well wishes for the couple. In fact, they consider it a responsibility to dispatch a present all the way to Britain.
"On the wedding of our friend's son, we thought we should gift them something too," Talekar said.
They have even planned to bring the wedding celebration to Mumbai by distributing sweets to people.
The owners of Baba Samarth Collection, who were honoured for the second time to be the Dabbawalas' choice to shop from, for the royal wedding, are no less elated and extended their best wishes to the royal couple.
"We have a special relationship with the Dabbawalas. Last time also they purchased attires from us on Prince Charles' wedding, and we are very happy that they honoured us by choosing our shop for their son's wedding," Laxmikant Patange, one of the owners of the shop said.
The wedding gift will be dispatched to the Royal Couple with the help of Paper and Parcel company.
The royal wedding is set to take place on May 19 at England's Windsor Castle.
