![]() ![]() The Queen believed much of the rivalry to be a result of racism, and I would have to agree with her assessment. ![]() I was impressed by her devotion to the study of Urdu and her proficiency in that language at the end of her life-she got a late start, but made excellent headway on a language that was far different than others she was used to.Īs Abdul became one of her favourites, it was inevitable that he would become the target of people who were jealous. I would agree with the author, that Her Maj was a romantic at heart and the exoticness of India (in comparison to Britain) was what drew her to Abdul Karim and his culture. In many ways, this is a story of a lonely woman who finds a friend and a new interest in life. I had no idea until seeing the film that she had Indian people serving in her household or that she had become close friends with one of them. I think we all feel we “know” about Queen Victoria, but I found I really only had a general impression of the woman. I was grateful for the author’s footnotes and references-she certainly did her research. When I saw that this year’s PopSugar challenge included a category called “Book made into a movie that you’ve already seen,” I immediately knew which book I would be reading. I saw the film based on this book last year and really enjoyed it, but I had to wonder how much the screenwriters had fiddled with the facts to make a more engaging film. Yet, at its heart, it is a tender love story between an ordinary Indian and his elderly queen, a relationship that survived the best attempts to destroy it. Victoria & Abdul examines how a young Indian Muslim came to play a central role at the heart of the Empire, and his influence over the queen at a time when independence movements in the sub-continent were growing in force. But her intense and controversial relationship with the Munshi led to a near-revolt in the royal household. Devastated by the death of John Brown, her Scottish gillie, the queen had at last found his replacement. Within a year, he was established as a powerful figure at court, becoming the queen's teacher, or Munshi, and instructing her in Urdu and Indian affairs. An assistant clerk at Agra Central Jail, he suddenly found himself a personal attendant to the Empress of India herself. The tall, handsome Abdul Karim was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.
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