Queen Victoria's Last Love Page #5

was bad enough -

consorting with a diseased Indian

was beyond the pale.

Drastic measures were called for.

As the household prepared

for their traditional Easter break

in the South of France,

it fell to the Queen's Lady

of the Bedchamber, Harriet Phipps,

to deliver an ultimatum.

The household said,

"Look, if Abdul's coming to France

with us this year, then we resign.

"We don't want him. "

And the Queen flies

into a wonderfully...

a rage that only a monarch is

allowed to do.

She was in such a rage she swept all

the papers off her desk.

It would have made a wonderful bang,

all this stuff going on the floor.

It was a physical expression of fury.

In the face of the royal tantrum,

the household was forced

into a humiliating climb-down.

Desperate to bring an end

to the Munshi mania,

Victoria's own son, Bertie,

the Prince of Wales,

now stepped into the fray

with an unprecedented attack

on the monarch herself.

In 1897, the world came to London.

From across the Empire,

representatives of

Her Majesty's colonies

arrived for the Diamond Jubilee.

But as the Queen's family and staff

prepared for the ceremonies,

the Palace was mired in crisis

over the monarch and her Munshi.

So, it's 2012,

it's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee,

and the Olympic Games, and

all the world are coming to London.

You've got to think of 1897

and Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee

as the same kind of scale

of occasion.

All the eyes of the world

were going to be on London,

and most of the world

had come to London.

It was going to be the biggest thing

that had happened to the monarchy.

And yet, at the same time,

this was the year of Munshi mania.

With just weeks to go

until the celebrations

Victoria and Abdul dropped a

bombshell, over the Jubilee honours.

Karim was a go-getter,

and Queen Victoria was willing to...

facilitate this to a great extent.

Up to the point that eventually,

late in his career,

she is going along with

the suggestion

that he should be knighted.

After a decade at court,

Karim already boasted

a chestful of prestigious medals -

gifts from his ever-admiring

Queen Empress...

and one from the German Kaiser.

But for the Queen's ministers,

the prospect of Sir Abdul Karim

was one step too far.

She was in danger of

undermining the monarchy itself.

If somebody who was

the son of a hospital orderly

could be elevated

to the position of a knight,

then the message it's sending

to all the other Indian princes

is that all these different

gun salutes,

these orders of precedence -

they're meaningless.

Determined to put an end

to the crisis,

Abdul's old adversary,

the Viceroy of India,

joined forces with

the Prime Minister Lord Salisbury

to oppose Karim's knighthood.

Victoria refused to back down.

Queen Victoria was very lukewarm

about the Diamond Jubilee.

She was undergoing -

to borrow a phrase

from her descendant -

her "annus horribilis".

A terrible year.

She refused to wear a crown,

and she, at one point,

threatened to pull out

of the thing altogether.

With the success of the Jubilee

hanging in the balance,

in April 1897 Queen Victoria's son,

the Prince of Wales,

stepped into the fray.

After a fraught discussions with

her Majesty's doctor Sir James Reid,

the pair came up with a plan.

The following day, Reid visited

the Queen, and made his play.

"There are people in high places

who know Your Majesty well,

"who say to me that

the only charitable explanation

"that can be given

"is that Your Majesty is not sane.

"And that the time will come when,

"to save Your Majesty's

memory and reputation,

"it will be necessary for me

to come forward and say so. "

"I have seen the Prince of Wales

yesterday,

"and he says he's quite made up his

mind to come forward if necessary,

"because it affects the throne. "

I think for the household

actually to stand up in this way

is very remarkable.

And I think that perhaps,

at the back of their minds,

or maybe at the front of their minds,

is that the Queen is going to

appear in public very shortly,

the monarchy is going to be exposed

to public view with the Jubilee,

so it's important

that things should be in order.

The threat to have

the Queen declared insane

appeared to hit home.

For once in her life,

Victoria admitted defeat.

Abdul would remain plain "Mr Karim".

On the 22nd of June 1897,

the palace gates opened

and Britain celebrated

the Queen's 60 years on the throne.

But Victoria had the last laugh.

Throughout the celebrations

the man who had become her rock

remained at her side,

rubbing shoulders with Indian

princes and European royalty.

Ever the industrious student,

Victoria ended the day with

an entry in her Hindustani journal.

For the remaining four years

of the Queen's life

Victoria and Abdul were inseparable.

But in 1901 the Queen died

and Abdul's protection

came to an end.

Just days after the Queen's funeral,

Karim received a visit at his home

on the royal estate.

Abdul and my grandfather

were in Karim Lodge

and there was this group

that came out from the palace.

My grandfather was asked

to go into the cottage

and lay his hands on any documents

which had the royal crest on it.

And I think there was

a concerted effort to... erase him.

It was something that

he was extremely hurt about.

Karim's treasured collection

of letters and mementos

from the Queen was destroyed.

He was turned out of his houses

and banished to India.

The royal family's treatment

of Abdul Karim

after Queen Victoria's death

was far too heavy-handed,

and unjustified.

Er, the fact is that he had had

this friendship with the Queen.

To deny that friendship

was to deny, really,

the last 14 years

of the Queen's life.

With Karim's departure,

the traditional order

and its stuffy harmony

were restored

in the royal household.

And, as for Abdul,

he retired to his estates in Agra.

But the local boy-made-good

didn't live to enjoy his celebrity.

The high life had taken its toll

on Abdul's health.

He died in 1909, at the age of 46.

"This is the last resting place

of Hafiz Mohammed Abdul Karim.

"He is now alone in the world.

"His caste was

the highest in Hindustan.

"None can compare with him. "

I like his chutzpah.

Here was an Indian pushing himself,

and politically, I would say,

it's extremely good to cock a snook

at the royal household.

When you look at Abdul's sort of

meteoric ascent in the court,

I think he's a very clever operator.

He's incredibly impressive, actually.

You know, full marks to Abdul.

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