Today In royal history on 1 January 1877, Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative Prime Minister, had Queen Victoria proclaimed as Empress of India. India was already under crown control since 1858, but this title was a gesture to link the monarchy with the empire further and bind India more closely to Britain. The photo shows the Queen with her Indian servants / aids sometime in the 1890s..... The best remembered being Hafiz Mohammed Abdul Karim CIE, CVO (1863–1909) better known as The Munshi, was an Indian Muslim attendant of Queen Victoria. He served her during the final fifteen years of her reign, gaining her affection over that time. Karim was born near Jhansi in British India, the son of a hospital assistant. In 1887, Victorias Golden Jubilee year, Karim was one of two Indians selected to become servants to the Queen. Victoria came to like him a great deal and gave him the title of Munshi, an Urdu word often translated as clerk or teacher. Victoria appointed him her Indian Secretary, showered him with honours, and obtained a land grant for him in India. The close relationship between Karim and the Queen led to friction within the Royal Household, the other members of which felt themselves to be superior to him. The Queen insisted on taking Karim with her on her travels, which caused arguments between her and her attendants. Following Victorias death in 1901, her successor, Edward VII, ordered his return to India and ordered the confiscation and destruction of the Munshis correspondence with Victoria. Karim subsequently lived quietly near Agra, on the estate that Victoria had arranged for him, until his death at the age of 46.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 22:17:33 +0000