Queen Victoria's Last Love Page #2

to real people around her.

She wanted somebody with whom

she could relate directly,

um... and she craved

this kind of intimacy.

You know, there's that famous quote,

after Albert dies, she says,

"There's nobody who can call me

Victoria now. "

Certainly she was very needy,

she was emotionally hungry,

and she grew up without a father,

and with a mother that she

believed didn't love her.

She did not have

an easy childhood at all.

So in later life,

what she really, really needed

was someone to give her

unconditional attention.

In Abdul Karim,

she found a man ready, willing,

and able to provide it.

Just weeks after

Abdul's arrival at court,

the Queen made

a startling announcement.

"I am learning a few words

of Hindustani.

"Young Abdul teaches me.

"He's a very strict master,

and a perfect gentleman. "

No more pots and pans for Abdul.

The 24-year-old kitchen boy

was now to be known as the Queen's

munshi, or teacher.

Entrusted with the honour

of instructing the monarch

in the official language

of her Indian subjects.

For the rest of her life, the Queen

kept a daily record of her studies

in a series of journals.

Well, here we have an example

from the Queen's Hindustani diary.

"Aaj ka din bohat atchaa rahaa.

"Shah Persia aaj hamaari mulakaatko

meh chandvasiroh keh aayi. "

"The day was very fine.

"The Shah of Persia

came to see me today

"with some of his ministers

at two o'clock'.

The script has been written

with a certain amount of fluency,

in a very enthusiastic way.

She's trying to come to grips

with something which is actually

very alien.

And the skill that is needed

for that to be done

at a competent level

is going to be very,

very significant.

So what I see is, actually,

I'm very impressed with

what she was able to achieve,

only, what, about a year after

she had started learning Hindustani.

Over the years, the Queen's

Hindustani journals

would become a secret

channel of communication

between the monarch

and her munshi.

Some of the vocabulary

seems quite suggestive.

There's things like, "The Queen

will miss Abdul. " Translate.

"Give me a hug. " Translate.

I don't think it is actually that,

but it's stuff that seems

quite personal and intimate

that they felt the need

to be able to say to each other.

With his daily doses of Hindustani,

his tales from the Taj,

and his mango chutney,

Abdul had become

the Queen's undisputed favourite.

And she didn't care who knew it.

Abdul was kind of like a pet,

really,

like a beautiful tiger or something,

walking along beside the Queen,

and sometimes,

when they were on the continent,

people were quite confused

about who he was,

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