{"id":139650,"date":"2024-01-12T16:37:53","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T23:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=139650"},"modified":"2024-01-12T16:37:53","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T23:37:53","slug":"princess-royal-looks-on-as-husband-invited-to-smash-coconut-in-temple-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2024\/01\/12\/princess-royal-looks-on-as-husband-invited-to-smash-coconut-in-temple-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Princess Royal looks on as husband invited to smash coconut in temple visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy The Stanadard<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Anne was heard to quip later that Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence had ‘still got his bowling arm’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VICE ADMIRAL SIR TIMOTHY LAURENCE AT VAJIRA PILLAYAR KOVIL HINDU TEMPLE IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TONY JONES<\/a>5 HOURS AGO<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Princess<\/a> Royal appeared impressed when her husband banished bad luck by smashing a coconut during a Hindu temple visit in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne watched as Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence hurled the fruit to the ground, sending a spray of coconut water over the nearby press and he threw his hands up in amazement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in the day she was heard to quip: He\u2019s still got his bowling arm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, Anne paid her respects to the fallen when she laid a wreath in their memory in Colombo<\/a>, during her first visit to a Commonwealth<\/a> War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery as the organisation\u2019s president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple received a warm welcome as they arrived at Vajira Pillayar Kovil, a Hindu temple in the Sri Lankan<\/a> capital, to receive a blessing from the chief priest on the final day of their three-day tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shimmering scarf of gold-and-red silk was draped over the princess and her husband\u2019s shoulders, a garland of jasmine and rose flowers were placed around their necks and each received a pottu in the middle of their forehead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sir Tim was asked to smash the coconut, which is symbolic of getting rid of bad luck and welcoming better fortunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A procession of female dancers and musicians playing drums and an oboe-like instrument called a Nadaswaram preceded the couple as they walked into the temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the huge building, the cacophony of the droning music was deafening, and they stood before a shrine to Lord Ganesh and touched an offering of fruit \u2013 including pomegranates, mangoes and bananas \u2013 betel leaves and a garland of jasmine flowers for the deity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief priest Sachithanantha Kurukal went into the shrine to conduct the pooja or blessing as Anne and her husband watched, and they later toured the temple viewing the many shrines to Hindu gods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ MORE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anne\u2019s<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne\u2019s husband banishes bad luck in ceremony at Hindu temple in Sri Lanka<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Diana\u2019s<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Diana\u2019s Catherine Walker dress and Sarah Jessica Parker\u2019s SATC tutu up for sale<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Princess<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Princess Royal pays her respects at Sri Lankan Buddhist temple<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Outside, they were offered the chance to feed sacred cows, a revered animal in Hinduism, and Anne held some vegetation as they ate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the CWGC\u2019s Jawatta Cemetery in Colombo, Anne paid her respects to service personnel from Sri Lanka and Commonwealth countries, the majority of whom had served during the Second World War and were buried at the graveyard, which was kept in immaculate condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A short service of remembrance was held where a bugler played the Last Post before a minute\u2019s silence was observed and the princess laid a wreath of poppies with a handwritten card which read We will remember them\u201d and signed Anne\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During last year\u2019s Remembrance weekend it was announced Anne would take on her new role, succeeding the Duke of Kent who had been CWGC president since 1970, and the King<\/a> was announced as the CWGC\u2019s first patron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy The Stanadard Anne was heard to quip later that Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence had ‘still got his bowling arm’ VICE ADMIRAL SIR TIMOTHY LAURENCE AT VAJIRA PILLAYAR KOVIL HINDU TEMPLE IN COLOMBO, SRI LANKA PA TONY JONES5 HOURS AGO The Princess Royal appeared impressed when her husband banished bad luck by smashing a coconut during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}