Many know about the life of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Ireland), her marriage to Prince Albert, her passion for the arts and her management of political life - although the kingdom's constitution granted the king limited powers - until she was called the Mother of Europe.
But part of Queen Victoria's life remained hidden, and that was her relationship with her Indian Muslim servant Abdul Karim.
In 2017, the release of a film entitled "Victoria and Abdoul" shed light on another aspect of the Queen's life, namely the close relationship she had with a young Indian named Abdul Karim in the last years of her life.
The upbringing of Abdul Karim
In a report published in the British newspaper, The Independent, writer Sabrina Barr indicated that Karim, whose name was Muhammad Abdul Karim, was born in India to a Muslim family in 1863. He was the second of six children, as his father worked as an assistant in a hospital with a squad of weapons British Knights.
When Karim grew up, he got a job as a clerk in a prison in Agra.
The prison where Karim worked had a prisoner rehabilitation program where their training in carpet weaving was located.
In 1886, several prisoners traveled to London to display their textiles at an exhibition, and Karim helped the prison superintendent, John Tyler, arrange the trip to the English capital.
Queen Victoria, who was in her late 60s, visited the exhibition, according to the author.
Having been called Empress of India in 1876, the Queen has shown an interest in the Indian lands under her rule.
At the same time, Queen Tyler told her that she wanted him to choose two Indian servants who would serve for a year during her golden jubilee, marking the fiftieth anniversary of her assumption of the throne.
Tyler chose Karim and another man named Muhammad Bogsch.
It was then that Karim learned English and mastered British etiquette before traveling to England.
Karim's meeting with Queen Victoria The
author reported that the Queen and Karim met for the first time on June 23, 1887, when he and Bogsch served breakfast at Frogmore House in Windsor.
Shortly after her first meeting with Karim, Queen Victoria revealed in her diary that she began to learn some words from the Hindustani language after getting to know her two new servants.
By August of that year, Karim, 24, had begun teaching the Queen's Urdu, one of the main languages spoken in South Asia and now the national language of Pakistan.
From here, their relationship turned even higher, as Queen Victoria asked that Karim take more English lessons.
In 1888, a year after Karim arrived in England to participate in the Golden Jubilee, Queen Victoria promoted him to the position of "Munshi" to signify his role as a personal language teacher, but their conversations were not limited to language learning only, Karim's biographer, Sushila Anand said. They also talked about other topics, including philosophy and politics.
Throughout their 14-year friendship that lasted until the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the Queen became so fond of Karim that she appointed him in charge of other Indian servants and designated him a room in Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
However, other members of the royal family did not approach the young man as much as the queen did, making it clear that they did not wish their treatment of him to exceed the rank of servant.
When they expressed their hatred of Karim, the Queen stood by him and defended him.
The attitude of the royal family to Karim
The author stated that one of the reasons why Queen Victoria's relationship with Karim was unknown, was due to the fact that many of their letters had been burned.
After his rejection of the relationship between the Queen and Karim, he ordered her eldest son, Edward, after her death, to burn letters exchanged between them.
For her part, historian Carolee Erickson said in her book “Little Queen's Majesty: The Life of Queen Victoria,” that “Racism was the scourge of the times, and it coincided with a belief in the appropriateness of Britain’s global domination. This was unacceptable, so it was an insult to share with them eating at the same table as well as in their daily life. "
The writer explained that Shrabani Basu, the author of "Victoria and Abdoul", had told the "Time" newspaper that she had seen private papers written by members of the Queen's family, including the Queen's private physician Sir James Reed.
It was mentioned in one of the papers that Reid expressed his rejection of Karim very clearly, writing that the Queen was obsessed with "the Munchy".
Moreover, Basu mentioned that Karim was portrayed in a Western biography as a "fraudster", as "manipulating the Queen in pursuit of fame," so she wanted to investigate his past and his relationship with Queen Victoria in more detail.
Documenting their friendship The
author reported that Basu became interested in Karim's past after he discovered a painting of him in the Osborne House mansion on the Isle of Wight, the former mansion of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
"I knew that Abdul Karim came from India to England to serve Queen Victoria in 1887, but he appeared in the pictures as a gentleman," Basu said, "where he painted" beautifully, in red and gold, while carrying a book. "
After researching Karim's life, Basu believed that all messages exchanged between him and Queen Victoria had been destroyed by orders from King Edward VII.
However, she was able to communicate with Karim's relatives, who revealed that they had kept his diary.
Karim did not have any children.
"It was the most wonderful moment for me when I received the notes," Basu said. "One of the lines mentioned the following: I hope that the story likes everyone who gets their hands on these notes."
Having already written a book about Queen Victoria and Karim, the discovery of the notes prompted Basu to reconsider issuing a second edition, on which the 2017 film "Victoria and Abdoul" was based.
Although the film depicts a fictional version of their friendship, Basu stressed that the events of the film are realistic, despite their weirdness.