Victoria & Abdul (Movie Tie-in): The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant

~side note #1
Since there is a movie tie-in, you might be misled into thinking that VICTORIA & ABDUL is a historical novel, or something contrived, very much an 'adapted history'. It is Not. This is a solid historical work that has been well researched. It reads like good history, but if you are looking for a dive into the heart and soul of the characters, you might just want to wait for the movie.

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VICTORIA & ABDUL is a wonderful read. The author gives us lots of delicious detail about the times, mood, and place. She describes things like the Queen's railroad coach and rooms exceedingly well. I felt myself dropped into place watching Victoria's entourage having parties and visiting Europe.

I previously indicated that you weren't going to see inside the hearts of Victoria and Abdul like you will in a historical novel or the movie, but that's not entirely accurate. What you get are insights into their thinking. Basu gives us telling snippets from their own writings. And where we might fail to see the significance, Basu lights the way. Certainly, when you finish this book you will understand the care and attention that Queen and servant had for one another. The paintings, the notes, the conversations all present to us a wonderful tale that has not been told before.

Recommend.

"Soon to be a movie" is more than just advertising...it's a preview of what is to come when reading the book itself. The story is interesting but the book is written as though a movie script is in the works. In some areas minutia is woven into the pages in what can only be described as a script without instruction. Yes, it's that tedious. In the end, I suspect the movie will be better than the book since it seems we have entered an era where the movie script forms the foundation for the book rather than the movie being adopted or adapted from the book. Reading this leaves a lot to be desired so skip and just put the movie on your pending watch list.

I didn't know much about Queen Victoria until recently when I read the excellent Victoria: The Queen by Julia Baird. She talked about Abdul Karim but I was left with the impression that this was an interesting but not important chapter in the history of Victoria's reign. I was put off by the beginning of Shrabani Basu's book (which is not a new book, it was first published in 2010 and is being re-released to coincide with the movie release) which gives us a dramatic scene of Karim reacting to the Queen's death, giving us access to his thoughts and gestures in a room by himself. Basu tells us that Karim's journal, found since the publication of the book, and used to update the current edition, ends several years before the Queen's death and that there are no other journals or confidants of Karim that could be used to verify these personal moments. Therefore, I assume Basu used dramatic license to create these cinematic scenes, which bothers me since this book is otherwise (I believe) well-documented and researched. Aside from this flight of fancy on the part of Basu, the story seems reliable and gives us an unexpected humanizing element to the much maligned Victoria.

Imagine this. You are the queen. You are lonely and feel unappreciated and unloved by everyone around you. Especially by people who only see the crown on your head, yes, maybe even by your own children who have no time for you. Then a charming man comes all the way from a far-away land. He is a mere "commoner", a servant, but yet he makes you feel like a real woman again. You become highly attached to him. No one, not even the prime minister or your children (the Princes or Princesses) are allowed to say a word against him even though he has become demanding and arrogant to those around him.

This then is the story of Queen Victoria and Abdul. Highly readable history. Such an unlikely relationship. I enjoyed the book till the details of the court conspiracy to get rid of Abdul became boring.

By the time Queen Victoria started the last decade of her life, she had lost her beloved Prince Albert in 1861 and her Scottish personal servant, John Brown, in 1883- many people speculated that she and Brown were secretly married, they were so close. She was a sad and lonely woman. Then, unexpectedly, she found a new friend: Abdul Karim, from India.

He arrived as part of a contingent of Indians, a gift, as it were, to her for her Golden Jubilee. While a number of high ranking Indians visited England for the event, Karim was sent over (along with several others) as a servant. At first he waited at table, but he moved on swiftly. Despite a language barrier, the Queen and Karim began to communicate. He was solicitous and caring. Soon he was teaching her Hindi; soon after that he became a secretary. He took care of her correspondence and performed other duties. When they were apart, they wrote each other constantly. As they became closer, Victorian began to advance him in rank and give him valuable gifts and honors. This brought out jealously in both the servant’s quarters and the court- especially the court. He was being allowed to walk, sit, and ride with the court elite, and this made them furious. He was from the lower middle class, he wasn’t a Christian, and, worst of all, he had brown skin. Obviously inferior! He was with her until her death; the last person to be with her body before it was put into the coffin. Needless to say, the court instantly stripped him of as many things as they could, demanded all of Victoria’s letters to him and burned them on site. He went home to India.

Having read a couple of biographies of Queen Victoria, I knew much of this story already, but it was written from the court’s point of view- that Karim (known as the Munshi, a Hindi term for ‘secretary’) took horrible advantage of the Queen. But the author found Karim’s family in Karachi, and they had a trunk full of his journals. This unlocked the past and gave the Munshi’s side of the story.

Because I’d read about Victoria’s life before, I found some of the book tedious. But if you’ve not read about the Queen’s later life, it won’t be tedious. It’s a short, interesting book that shows us how some things never change.

A couple of years ago I read “Victoria: A Life” by A.N. Wilson and reviewed it here (https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/RX5G6IWQLZUEM?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl). I thought it was an extraordinarily good book and it conveyed particularly well the bizarre relationship between the Queen and her uneducated, alcoholic Scottish servant, John Brown. According to Mr. Wilson the Queen likely slept with John Brown and might have married him in a secret ceremony at Balmoral Castle. Abdul Karim, the Munshi, is described in Mr. Wilson’s book, but not in great detail.

After seeing the movie “Victoria & Abdul” with the great actress Judy Dench playing Queen Victoria, I was most intrigued and decided to buy the book on which it was based, “Victoria & Abdul” by Shrabani Basu. I did not expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised. Ms. Basu has done extensive research and unearthed a great deal of hitherto unknown information about the Queen and her Munshi. Additionally, the book is beautifully written. Ms. Basu manages to paint an objective picture of the extraordinary relationship between the Queen and Abdul Karim, although at times one suspects she favors the Munshi.

It is now clear that the Queen had three great loves in her life. The first was her husband, Prince Albert, whose premature death left her in a state of perpetual gloom. John Brown followed some years later. The Queen’s final love was Abdul Karim. There might have been a sublimated sexual element in the relationship, but Ms. Basu paints a picture more like that of a mother-son relationship. Mr. Karim joined the Royal household as a humble servant from Agra waiting tables at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. He rapidly rose through the ranks because of the Queen’s favor and she relied on him for political advice about India and for teaching her Indian languages.

I think it would not be unfair to say that the Queen’s obsession with this conniving man bordered on the pathological. Although her treatment of her own children particularly Princess Beatrice whom she treated as a maid, the Prince of Wales who she detested and Prince Leopold who she treated as a servant was appalling, her attitude towards Abdul Karim was one of veneration despite the profound disapproval of the Royal household and the Queen’s children.

The Queen thought nothing of intervening on the Munshi’s behalf with successive Indian Viceroys, Ministers of State and even British Prime Ministers. Even though her powers were limited as a constitutional monarch she got her way by persistent nagging of the most pernicious kind usually by way of letters that she wrote daily on behalf of the Munshi. Because of the Queen’s influence he was covered in medals and royal orders and received the equivalent of a knighthood in India. His father too was ennobled. The Queen provided him with three homes at different castles such at Windsor Castle, Balmoral and Osborne House. She insisted that members of her extended family accompany her on visits to the Munshi at his various residences and we find even the Empress Alexandra of Russia and the Princess Alexandra of Wales signing the visitors’ book at the Munshi’s house in Windsor.

As to Abdul Karim himself, he took every advantage of the opportunities provided to him by the Queen. Despite his humble origins and lack of education, many of his Journal entries read quite well although some are almost nauseating in their obsequiousness. He also developed delusions of grandeur travelling in royal carriages in a semi-regal state and complaining to the Queen whenever he felt slighted by some high personage whom the Queen would subsequently take to task. The Queen’s berating of one of her Indian Viceroys over the latter’s failure to sufficiently acknowledge a Christmas card from the Munshi makes for hilarious reading. Another hilarious depiction is that of the rapid arrival at the Munshi’s residence after the Queen’s death of Queen Alexandra, Princess Beatrice and a group of royal guards and their impounding and burning outside the house all letters from Queen Victoria to the Munshi. Bertie, the Prince of Wales by then King Edward VII remained terrified throughout his reign that the Munshi had compromising letters from Queen Victoria.

Whatever one might think of the Munshi, venereal diseases and all, after reading this book, there is no doubt that the Queen’s reputation is left in tatters. Her own actions portray someone who can only be regarded as a royal crackpot. It remains very difficult to see why the Queen was so venerated as a monarch during her long reign and remains venerated to this day.

I think this book is a little gem for anyone interested in the British monarchy in general and in Queen Victoria in particular. I found it fascinating and I highly recommend it.

A little dry, and somewhat repetitive, but well researched. I don't know how it compares to the movie, but it's definitely nonfiction that does not read like a novel. Detailed and interesting. Describes just how opposed much of the court and household were to the close relationship between the Queen and her Munshi. A lot of Abdul's recorded and personal material were destroyed by Victoria's family after her death, but the author did a great job of capturing the facts of the story from other sources.

Abdul Karim, Victoria's Munshi, or tutor, became a factotum to Victoria after the death of Gillie John Brown, who in turn filled the void created by the early death of Albert, the Prince Consort. The book involves politics. character analysis and a great deal of pageantry. The pageantry of court receptions and Durbars will likely make for a better movie than a book. Starting with the backgrounds of her protagonists, Basu gives some history of post-Moghul India late in the reign of Victoria. She writes well, backed with detailed research. This is the the first time I've enjoyed descriptions of ceremony although there is a great deal of filler material on culinary and dress code. The book is a fine introduction to a selection of British ministers of the period, as well as to Victoria's family and staff. There is sparse coverage of British foreign policy in the 'Great Game' of India, Afghanistan and Russia.
In her sociology, Basu writes well of royalty, British and Indian, while turning a blind eye to the common folk. The book captures the ambiance surrounding Victoria without contrasting it with the status accorded Indians by the English populace, Indians were not accorded equality, much less respect. British ignorance is depicted by referring to Muslims as 'Hindoos.'
The book captures Victoria's feelings towards her Indian secretary-tutor, the 'Munshi' and towards Indian royalty, from whom she received many gifts. Vice-versa is less evident, as are the queen's feelings towards the Indian populace. Although she says that she is getting to know the under privileged, there is no particular evidence of it as nabobs and maharajahs engage in robbing the Indian people for an opulent life style depicted in the book.
There is a better glimpse of Victoria than of Abdul. Victoria appears overly solicitous of her servants welfare, as well as somewhat naive and easily manipulated. There is evidence of Victoria's matronly concern for her two Indian charges as with ordering 36 pairs of appropriately colored gloves to buttress them against the fall weather in Scotland. Apparently the queen engaged seriously in learning Hindi and Urdu. Admirable! The book poignantly presents her last journal entry in Urdu.
There is much about the Munchis travels, both with Victoria to Scotland and independently to India. Quaintly, he took place in amateur theater productions, produced by royals and staff. Besides the language tutoring, Victoria relied on him to keep her informed about India. He convinced her that Muslims in India were becoming marginalized and the aggressors in the conflicts were Hindus. Basu seemingly takes the queen's biased stance.
Abdu was certainly self serving, concerned with self advancement, demanding perks like an estate in India, knighthood, and titles for himself and his father that the royals thought were beyond his status. Except for instructing Victoria in Hindi and Urdu, we don't get a good idea of the extent of his duties, or exactly why he became such a favorite. He incurred resentment of staff and to some extent Victoria's family. The book is repetitive with the Munchi's tensions with the staff.
Perhaps more interesting than Karim Abdul is the queen's ward, Daleep Singh, son of Ranjit Singh, former ruler of the Punjab. Daleep first presented, then demanded back the Kohi-noor diamond.
The book ends, or rather winds down, after the death of Victoria in 1901 with Abdul's eight years of life on his Agra estate, a legacy of the queen. Edward ordered destruction of much of his mother's correspondence concerning Abdul, making Basu's research more difficult.
On the whole, the book is a very well done, informative, popularization of extensive research on a narrow subject. Where it's incomplete, it's because the author declines to fictionalize or to expand her research with speculation.

This is a very well researched book. Has notes, references, and an index. There are many details about the relationship between Victoria & Abdul. There are pictures and many exact quotations and the wording of letters. It is a slow read and got a little boring. Would be ideal for a history buff.

A gift for my wife, after seeing the movie. It offers a lot more documented detail on the characters.