Mahatma Gandhi gave this shawl, made from yarn he had spun himself, as a wedding present to Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten in November 1947. In an accompanying letter, he offered his blessing to the couple, expressing the wish ‘that they would have a long and happy life of service of man'. The shawl was woven at Gandhi’s request by a Punjabi girl. The rectangular panel in the centre bears the phrase JAI HIND, which translates roughly as ‘Hail India’.