Sara Forbes Bonetta: Queen Victoria's African God-Daughter
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2023
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
By the age of just 7, Sara Forbes Bonetta had survived a West African war, lost her parents, been enslaved and finally, exchanged as a gift for a far-flung queen. When she arrived in the court of Queen Victoria in 1850, the monarch was immediately impressed by the determined, intelligent young girl. She took Sara under her wing as a royal protégée and goddaughter, setting in motion an extraordinary story of transformation and identity.
Dan is joined by Joanna Brown, author of Bright Stars of Black British History, to discuss Sara's extraordinary life and what it can tell us about the British Empire.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.
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Transcript
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| 0:50.0 | Hi everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's history hit. |
| 0:55.5 | Sarah Forbes Bonetta was a favorite of Queen Victoria. |
| 1:01.9 | Victoria took a close interest in her education, she sent her and then retrieved her from various |
| 1:07.2 | parts of the empire, she arranged a marriage to an eligible young man who had been a naval officer for her and she became goddaughter of Sarah's firstborn child herself named Victoria after Sarah's royal patron. |
| 1:23.2 | Sarah Forbes Bonetta was important to Victoria. |
| 1:27.8 | She was a vital part of a new vision that Victoria and her advisors had for the British Empire. A more modern vision, |
| 1:37.6 | a more inclusive vision, one that would strengthen it and hopefully allow it to endure for generations because Sarah Forbes |
| 1:46.2 | Bonetta was black. She'd been born we think Iina into a subgroup of the Euro ethnic clan in West. Inc. had invaded her homeland, killed her parents, and taken her as a slave to the court of King |
| 2:07.4 | Giza. From there she'd become an offering to Queen Victoria. She was taken by the Royal Navy, introduced the Queen, |
| 2:17.0 | and immediately made her way into her good books. In this podcast, I talk to Joanna Brown. she writes as J.T. Williams. |
| 2:25.0 | She's just written a book called Bright Stars of Black British History and |
| 2:30.0 | Sarah Forbes Bonetta is among her subjects. |
| 2:33.4 | It's a fascinating story. |
... |
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