French President Francois Hollande's arrival at Rashtrapati Bhavan for the At Home hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee was delayed by nearly 30 minutes.

The At Home celebrations are customarily held at the Mughal Gardens of Rashtrapati Bhavan and was hosted on Tuesday.

Hollande who was held up at the lunch hosted by the French Embassy inconvenienced many VVIP invitees who had been told to assemble at 3 pm for the At Home, which was scheduled for 4 pm.

Usual protocol has been that the President, Vice President and Prime Minister arrive at the Green Room of Rashtrapati Bhavan and once the Chief Guest arrives, protocol officers will request the Prime Minister to leave the hall first followed by the Vice President and then the President.
In a security drill also, the President is the last to arrive and first to leave at all public events.

But Holland's delay meant that Indian VVIPs had to stay put for over an hour at the Green Room.  Of course, the occasion was well utilised with the VVIPs getting better acquainted.