Calcutta was the historic centre of the British presence in India, and effectively the capital of the British East India Company. However, Delhi had been the historic capital of much of the subcontinent for long historic periods. In particular, it had been the most recent capital of the Mughals. There remained an association with Imperial grandeur that the British Raj tried to use by holding several durbars for the Viceroy and visiting Royalty. In 1911, at the King-Emperor George V's Coronation Durbar, the announcement was made that the capital of the Raj was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.

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