Read Victoria & Abdul for Free Online

Western environment. Balancing the three had proven quite a challenge.
    The ‘best blood in India’ Dufferin could get was Pertab Singh, the scion of a great Rajput house, brother of the Maharajah of Jodhpur, who agreed to ‘try the experiment’ of crossing the seas. But even the great Rajput had his shortcomings. ‘His own appearance especially out of native clothes, is not prepossessing,’ warned the Viceroy. 1 Dufferin reported that Pertab Singh unfortunately did not speak English well, his teeth were disfigured by betel chewing and ‘his only notion of smart get-up is to make himself look as like an English jockey as possible’. He was, at least, very sporty and excelled in all equestrian accomplishments such as pig-sticking, riding and racing.
    What Pertab Singh lacked in appearance, he made up for in rank and what the others lacked in rank, they made up for in appearance. The Maharajah of Cooch Behar, thought Dufferin, was a good choice as he quite fitted ‘the British idea of what an Indian Rajah should look like’. Cooch Behar, he informed Cross, looked very gentlemanlike even in European clothes and took with him a ‘dear little wife’. Lady Dufferin had done her best to persuade Cooch Behar’s wife to keep to her native clothes, ‘in which she looks charming’, and Dufferin suggested that the Queen should also send her a message to enforce this.
    Some like Holkar, the Maharajah of Indore, came with health warnings – ‘He is a burly, ill-mannered, vulgar Mahratta’ – but even he had his advantages. ‘He will take a large following with him, whose gorgeous dresses will help to enliven the Jubilee show,’ commented Dufferin.
    The lists were finalised over a period of four months. Dufferin sent detailed instructions as to how the Queen should receive them, what occasions they should be invited to, the ranking and order of precedence and how the Secretary of State should entertain them. The Princes were all paying for their own travel, so would need to be given a good time in London. The English officers accompanying them would handle the sightseeing, the Queen could perhaps invite them to an Indian-style Durbar and the Secretary of State to a reception. They should all be invited to Buckingham Palace and given seats at Westminster Abbey. Protocol and formalities were a vexing question: ‘Whether or not the Princes should be invited to attend a levee held by the Queen in person, where they will have to kneel and kiss her Majesty’s hand, is rather a ticklish question,’ noted Dufferin.
    Lord Cross issued instructions from London: ‘The Queen wishes them [the Princes] all to appear in Native costume.’ 2 European costume would be distasteful.
    These Jubilee celebrations would set the precedent for subsequent major Royal events – the Diamond Jubilee, the Coronation Durbar of King Edward VII and the Delhi Durbar of 1911. Ever since the Mutiny of 1857, the British believed in nurturing the princely states that had remained loyal to the Crown. In the post-Mutiny administrative reorganisation, the eleven provinces that had been dominated by the East India Company passed directly under Crown rule, while the rest of the princely or native states were ruled by their own Maharajahs or nawabs in alliance with the British government. These had remained largely autonomous, issuing their own currency and Royal crests, although their administration was subjected to close scrutiny. The princely states were arranged in a pecking order corresponding to their land and influence and some Maharajahs were allowed gun salutes. In the premier league were the states of Hyderabad, Mysore, Baroda, Gwalior and Kashmir – all known for their loyalty to the British Crown – with twenty-one gun salutes; Cooch Behar was allowed thirteen.

    On board the Cathay , Karim was feeling seasick. It was the first time he had stepped on something so magnificent. ‘It was like a moving palace with splendidly furnished rooms,’ he