By B.C. Thimmaiah
Every individual has at least once in lifetime thought about living like a royal. No matter where we live, what income we have and where we travel, we all have an inherent desire to experience the royal life in its full splendour — and one can in our Royal city at least for a day or two. One such p(a)lace is the Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel. Built by Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar Bahadur IV at the foot of Chamundi Hill to host British guests including the Viceroy of India, the Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel was commissioned on Nov. 18, 1921 and is now run by Ashok Group of Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). The ITDC took over the hotel in 1974, added another 32 rooms to the existing 22. Its heritage value has brought many high-profile guests from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Prince Charles. Among the rooms at the hotel, the ones with princely proportions are ‘Heritage Classic Suite’, ‘Duplex Suite’, ‘Vicerine Suite’ and the ‘Viceroy Suite’. All of them have high-ceiling with plenty of natural light, period furniture, four poster beds, deep velvet covered arm chairs and gilt-framed Belgian Mirrors. The huge and inspiring bathrooms of all the suites are equipped with original Shanks of Scotland (now Armitage) plumbing fixtures.
