5 • 710 Ratings
🗓️ 6 May 2024
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Let's investigate the story of the controversial friendship between Queen Victoria and Indian servant Abdul Karim.
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0:00.0 | When Indian-born journalist and historian Shirabi Basu was touring an exhibition at Queen Victoria's summer home, |
0:07.5 | the Isle of Wines-Eymborn House, back in 2003, something unusual caught her eye. |
0:13.0 | Among the many portraits hanging on the walls in the house's Indian wing were several paintings and busts of a fine young Indian man. |
0:20.0 | Basu recalls stopping to look at a |
0:22.4 | particularly intriguing painting that showed the man holding a book and glancing sideways with an air |
0:27.6 | of gentleness about him. The way he was depicted made him seem like more of a nobleman than a |
0:33.2 | servant, as one might assume. Unable to shake the feeling and with no real leads to follow, |
0:38.7 | Basu decided to do some digging of her own, |
0:41.2 | and that's when she uncovered a secret that had remained unspoken for over 100 years. |
0:48.8 | You're listening. |
0:49.8 | You're listening. |
0:51.3 | You're listening. |
0:52.1 | Be amazed. |
0:57.7 | Queen You're listening to be amazed. Queen Victoria, Britain's second longest reigning monarch, has been decorated with something |
1:02.7 | of a bad reputation throughout history. She's often depicted as a doughty, miserable woman, |
1:08.0 | mostly because she wore a lot of black, who spent the majority of her life |
1:11.4 | mourning the death of her late husband, Albert. |
1:13.5 | But there were many other signs to Victoria that have been hidden from the public, and they probably |
1:17.9 | would have remained that way if it weren't for Shrabani Basu's inquisitive eye. |
1:22.2 | Although Victoria famously mourned her husband's passing in 1861 for the next 40 years, |
1:27.3 | speculation over whether |
1:28.4 | she shared an intimate relationship with one of her servants, a certain Mr. John Brown, has run rampant. |
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