It all began in the year 1887 when Abdul Karim was sent to England for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. But unlike most peasants, Abdul spoke to the Queen and surprised her with an Indian meal. The Queen took a liking to Abdul and soon he became her closest confidant. He was promoted from serving tables to her ‘Munshi’ (a language teacher.) The worker became the teacher and the Queen a student.
Abdul spent the last few years of Queen Victoria’s life by her side teaching her Hindustani and the way of life in India. Unfortunately, the Queen’s court was anything but pleased with this absurd relationship and frowned upon it.
Once the Queen passed away in 1901, her son King Edward VII destroyed all of Queen Victoria’s journals along with any pictures of Abdul and the Queen.
But one journalist by the name Shrabani Basu was intrigued by their story and spent 4 years researching the life of Abdul and Victoria. She had little resources as all of the Queen’s diaries were gone but she refused to give up.
Shrabani Basu published the hardback edition titled Victoria and Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant in 2010 and put the word out that she was looking for the descendants of Abdul Karim.
The wait was fruitful and she was contacted by the descendants that lived in Karachi. Not only did she get to meet them but to her surprise, they handed her a journal of Abdul from his time in England.
The journal is historic and survived 100 years, traveling from Windsor to Agra. It was saved through the violence of the partition and reached Karachi. It was the final piece to Basu’s puzzle and that was when she knew her book was complete. After which she revised the book using Abdul’s journal to tie up the loose ends and published the paperback edition in 2011.
People might be wondering why the sudden interest in a book that was released over six years ago. It is because the book came to light after the release of Stephen Frears movie trailer of Victoria & Abdul, in May 2017.
The movie will release in September this year and features Judi Dench as Queen Victoria, who also played the same role in Mrs. Brown. Abdul Karim is played by Ali Zafal and Michael Gambon, the infamous Dumbledore from the Harry Potter series, is also a part of the movie.
