THE ROYAL EXILES
Maharajah Duleep Singh and Princess Gouramma of Coorg
1838–93 / 1841– 64
Queen Victoria not only produced a family dynasty descending through three generations and stretching by marriage across continental Europe, she was also godmother to more than 60 children. Among them were two Indians: Duleep Singh, the deposed Maharajah of the Sikh kingdom of the Punjab, and Princess Gouramma of Coorg (Kodagu), a small princely state in the south of India.
Both came to Victoria’s court in the early 1850s, shortly before the great Indian rebellion against British rule of 1857– 58. Duleep Singh was converted to Christianity before he left India, but Gouramma was baptised at Buckingham Palace, in a ceremony conducted by the archbishop of Canterbury. The two teenagers spent much time at Windsor Castle and Osborne House (the queen’s summer residence on the Isle of Wight), playing with the queen’s young family and learning how to be westernised royals. Later in the decade, Prince Albert took Duleep under his wing, escorting him around Britain, showing him the industrial north, and introducing him to hunting and sports. The queen even hoped that Duleep would marry Gouramma.
However, this story has a darker side. Duleep Singh didn’t arrive in the British court of his own volition. The British had effectively kidnapped him at the end of the Punjab wars in 1849, and he was presented like a prize of war to the queen along with the Koh-i-noor diamond and other booty.
As for Gouramma, she was traded in by her father in the hope of concessions from the British after his territory had been annexed. She married a Col John Campbell and died in England in 1864.