In Princess Diana's footsteps, William and Kate visit Taj Mahal

AGRA, India, April 16 (Reuters) - Where Princess Diana went alone, her son Prince William visited the Taj Mahal with his wife Kate on Saturday, bringing the British royal couple's week-long South Asian tour to a poignant close.   William and Kate sat side by side on the same bench where his late mother was photographed on a solitary visit in 1992.   [caption id="attachment_192285" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, pose in front of the Taj Mahal in Agra, April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi[/caption] [caption id="attachment_192286" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, pose at the Taj Mahal in Agra, April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi[/caption] [caption id="attachment_192287" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi[/caption] Kate wore a slimline white dress with a circular navy pattern while William braved intense afternoon heat in a blazer and open-neck shirt.   The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were rounding off a tour in which they met another glamorous young royal couple, the king and queen of Bhutan, and saw rhinos and elephants in a national park in Assam.   The final stop at the Taj Mahal was an emotional one for William, who was 15 when Diana died in a car crash in 1997. He has often spoken of how much he misses his mother, and that he thinks of her every day.   Diana's solo visit to the 17th-century mausoleum - built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife - came to symbolise her unhappy marriage to Prince Charles.   The couple separated months later. [nL5N1712T7]  

Three of the Taj Mahal's four minarets were swathed in scaffolding for repairs. Still, images of William and Kate sitting before the onion-domed monument, its ivory coloured marble translucent in the afternoon sunshine, were striking.   It was raining earlier in the day when the couple flew out of Bhutan's only international airport, a day after they trekked to a Buddhist monastery 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) up a mountain. [nL3N17I2ZV]   They landed in Agra in afternooon temperatures that reached 41 degrees Celsius (105.8F). Much of India is suffering a heatwave and severe drought after two years of failed monsoon rains.