SOME of the Royal Family’s finest Indian treasures are to go on display in Bradford.

A diamond-set ink stand, a bejewelled dagger and a dazzling emerald turban ornament are among the precious items held in the Queen’s Royal Collection which will go on show at Cartwright Hall in a major exhibition next year.

They are all gifts which were presented by local Indian rulers to Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), as he took a grand tour of the subcontinent in the 19th century.

In October 1875, the prince set off on a four-month tour, visiting more than 21 localities, which today encompass India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal.

Travelling nearly 7,600 miles by land and 2,300 miles by sea, he met more than 90 rulers of the different regions he visited, seeking to establish personal links with the local rulers and strengthen ties between the subcontinent and the British Crown.

The exhibition tells the story of the tour through watercolours, photographs and 74 works of art that were presented to the prince as part of the traditional exchange of gifts.

Many of these artefacts were precious heirlooms from the rulers’ toshakhanas, or personal treasuries, while others were specially commissioned from local artisans.

The collection, usually kept at Buckingham Palace, has not been on public display together for more than 100 years.

Bradford will be the first of four UK cities - and the only one in the North of England - to display the treasures.

Yesterday, City Hall hosted an event to give VIP guests a taster of the exhibition to come.

Dignitaries including Sir Ken Morrison, the Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC and the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Geoff Reid, got to take a closer look at a bejewelled ink well in the shape of a barge, which will be one of the items on show.

Jonathan Marsden, director of the Royal Collection Trust, said some “magnificent objects” had been presented to the future king.

He said: “Despite requests from the India Office in advance of the trip that the hosts should exercise restraint, the resulting gifts are wonderfully wrought, often of precious metals and often jewelled.”

He said the prince was so impressed, he telegraphed ahead to London so that preparations could begin for the exhibition of the gifts.

This resulted in popular public displays across the UK and even in Paris and Copenhagen in the 1870s and 1880s.

The collection is priceless, according to the trust.

Rufus Bird, deputy surveyor of the Queen’s works of art, said: “As my business director says, it’s like trying to weigh the world. To value these things is impossible and pointless.”

Mr Bird said the trust had been discussing a potential exhibition with galleries from lots of cities, and staff in Bradford had been particularly keen to participate.

He added that with Bradford’s large Asian community, it was an ideal place to celebrate the shared links between Britain and the subcontinent.

Nilesh Mistry, Cartwright Hall’s curator for international and decorative art, said this would be the largest Royal collection to be displayed in the gallery’s history.

He said: “For the Royal Collections Trust to bring out this collection for the general public’s appreciation, it’s what it is all about. It is about making the collection more accessible.”

He said Bradford Museums and Galleries would also show its own collection of 20th-century Indian silver and gold to complement the exhibition.

The exhibition is called Splendours of the Subcontinent: A Prince’s Tour of India 1875–76, and has been developed by the Royal Collection Trust in collaboration with Cartwright Hall and New Walk Museum in Leicester, which will be the second city to host the show. It will be in Bradford from March 11 to June 18, 2017.