In late July 1919 one of the most extraordinary but forgotten visits to Hampton Court took place, when a contingent of nearly 1800 troops from the Indian Army, including their British and Indian officers, marched through the palace gates and out onto the golf course on Home Park, where they camped for the next two months.

They returned to a shattered Europe by ship from Mumbai (then known as Bombay) months after the armistice that ended the First World War, to join in the national Peace Celebrations with soldiers from around the British Empire who had fought alongside each other.