History
The Controversial Relationship Between Queen Victoria & an Indian Servant Abdul
Queen Victoria had a friendship with her Indian servant near the end of her reign
The relationship between Queen Victoria and her Indian attendant Abdul Karim became so controversial and scandalous, that after the Queen's death in 1901 — the Royal British Family tried to erase Abdul’s existence from royal history.
Just after the Queen’s death, King Edward VII (the eldest son of Victoria) reportedly collected all the letters shared between Victoria and Abdul — and immediately burned them.
Abdul was ordered to leave the home, which the Queen had gifted him. Later he was deported to India.
Princess Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore (the elder daughter of Queen Victoria), reportedly destroyed all the journals, in which her mother had mentioned Abdul.
The Royal Family tried to erase Abdul from Victoria’s life, but after 100 years, a journalist found a hint about Abdul in Victoria’s summer home.
However, Abdul’s personal diary remained lost, which was preserved by generations of his descendants.
The journalist’s further investigation led to the discovery of Victoria’s relationship with Abdul.
The question was — why the relationship between Queen and Abdul became so controversial to the British Royal Family?
Queen used to consider Abdul her closest friend — with whom she shared her feelings.
He stood for the queen in all her good and bad times.
But for the remaining royal family, this was something else — it was more like an interracial relationship — white vs black and royal vs servant.
As per historians, the British public and the royal family never appreciated this relationship — they felt jealous that Victoria became closer to Abdul.
Not only did she help Abdul’s family financially but she also always chose Abdul as her company whenever she needed to travel in Europe.
Once she also decided to honor him with the knighthood title — but this couldn’t happen. Abdul was offered prime seats during parties, and operas.
He was also provided with amenities like having a private carriage — which was no less than any dream for mere a servant.
Victoria also had many portraits of Abdul — this depicts the bonding of the relationship of both.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
When she became the monarch in 1837, then after she proposed to her cousin prince Albert. Later she got married to Prince Albert.
Their married life remained beautiful till the death of prince Albert on 14th Dec 1861.
After her husband’s death, she wore only a black dress in the mourning for the rest of her life. She was also named ‘widow of Windsor’.
She had nine children with Albert.
Abdul Karim
After her husband’s death, she became close to a Scotsman named John Brown (not the American abolitionist), but unfortunately, this relationship didn’t last.
Now the queen was all alone. She used to find it hard to fill her inner void. Most of the time she remained alone and didn’t share her feelings with anybody.
When she met the Indian servant Abdul, gradually she trusted him and started sharing her personal life and feelings.
He was the only servant who ascend to the queen’s inner circle since the death of her beloved husband.
Abdul helped her to fill the void in the queen’s life. The court member considered Abdul’s friendship with the queen as the worst.
As per the historian Carolly Erickson —
“For a dark-skinned Indian to be put very nearly on a level with the queen’s white servants was all but intolerable, for him to eat at the same table with them, to share in their daily lives was viewed as an outrage.”
The queen once said in the denial of Abdul’s standing by her private assistant “the Queen says it is ‘race prejudice’ and that we are jealous of the poor Munshi.”
Victoria and Abdul’s Closeness
The Indian journalist Shrabani Basu uncovered the friendship between Queen and her servant in 2003.
She also wrote a book named — “Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant”.
Queen and Abdul’s unusual friendship started in 1887. It lasted a longer span of 14 years until the Queen’s death.
Queen Victoria was linguistic (English, French, and Latin) and eager to learn more languages. In particular, the Queen wanted to learn Indian languages because she also Empress of India.
When she came close to Abdul, she desired to learn Urdu.
Abdul started teaching her Urdu, while learning Urdu the Empress of India began to show an eagerness to learn more and more about Indian culture.
Abdul also introduced the queen to chicken curry!
Victoria wrote that —
“I am learning a few words of Hindustani to speak to my servants.It is a great interest to me, for both the language and the people.”
This interest of hers soon turned into enthusiasm.
To make Karim understand English better, she doubled his English lesson classes — and Karim was a fast learner as well!
Earlier, the Queen’s instructions were passed on through her staff to her servants including Karim, but soon, Victoria ceased this and began writing him directly.
Soon, the Queen gave him the title of “Munshi Hafiz Abdul Karim” — making him her official Indian clerk.
This relieved Karim from servant duties.
Shrabani Basu wrote in her book that Abdul Karim was born near Jhansi(a city near Agra in Uttar Pradesh) where he learned Urdu and Farsi. When he got a clerical job in an Agra prison, he became curious about the reign of the British Empress, in India.
Queen Victoria became Empress of India on 1 May 1876. British troops deposed the last Mughal Emperor of India, Bahadur Shah Zafar, after the Indian War for Independence in 1857. Interestingly, Victoria never visited India.
Queen Victoria selected two Indian attendants to assist her on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee, who would help her in facilitating communication with the Indian dignitaries.
Abdul Karim and Mohamed Buxshe were selected for that job. They both departed to London for the event.
Queen Victoria’s first impression of Abdul was “tall with a fine serious countenance.”
After this duty, both the Indian attendant went to the queen’s summer home on the Isle of Wight, where Abdul cooked his favorite recipe Chicken Curry using spices that he brought from Agra.
When the queen tested it, she declared it “excellent” and added this recipe to her daily menu rotation.
Apart from the recipes, she asked Abdul to teach her Urdu and Indian Culture.
Wherever the queen was traveling anywhere, Abdul was always there with her.
The turning point was when they spent a night together at Glassat Shiel, a remote cottage in Scotland that she shared with her previously shared with John Brown.
Although Abdul Karin’s diary doesn’t depict anything romantic between them.
Queen’s letters to Abdul were signed as “your closest friend” and “your loving mother.”
The British historians’ hatred toward this relationship was just Racial Discrimination nothing else.
Victoria heaped gifts upon Abdul, she knew after her death, the court and the British would not pay him respect. But she made sure that her friend would be remembered. Victoria also secured that Abdul must get a land grant in Agra.
In her final wishes, Victoria was quite explicit. At her funeral, Karim must be one of the principal mourners, it was an honor that was given to only the monarch’s closest ones (especially family and friends).
Victoria’s heirs tried to erase all the possible memories of Abdul from the public records. They even edited many documents to change the narrative.
Abdul Karim died in 1909 in Agra.
He had no children to preserve his memories. But something had survived — it was his personal diary.
The descendant of Abdul’s nephew kept this diary with him.
Victoria had nine children and forty-two grandchildren, who were influenced overseas and many of them were married to other European monarchies including Russia, Spain, Germany, and Spain.
Because of her many descendants Queen Victoria is also called the ‘grandmother of Europe.’
A movie was also made in 2017 named Victoria and Abdul.
Read More in the Same Context by Krishna V Chaudhary:
References:
https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Fascinating-Love-Story-of-Queen-Victoria-and-Abdul
http://www.shrabanibasu.co.uk/ https://books.google.co.in/books?id=q5ZxBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA344&lpg=PA344&dq=%25E2%2580%259Cam+learning+a+few+words+of+Hindustani+to+speak+to+my+servants.+It+is+a+great+interest+to+me,+for+both+the+language+and+the+people
