UK to become only country whose leaders have been chief guests at Republic Day on 6 occasions
UK prime minister Boris Johnson will be the sixth British leader to be chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations, and the honour was last extended to former prime minister John Major in 1993.
The UK is also set to become the only country which has been accorded this honour six times. So far, the heads of state or government of only France and Britain have been the chief guests at the celebrations on five occasions.
In 1956, UK chancellor of the exchequer Richard Austen Butler was the joint chief guest at the parade on January 26 along with Japan’s chief justice Kotaro Tanaka.