Queen Victoria's Last Love Page #5

chooses this individual

and places him not just in a

position of special servant to her,

but ultimately as

her private secretary,

this really upset everyone.

Karim was not only overturning

the established order

inside the royal household,

he was also about to fall out with

the most powerful man in the empire,

the Viceroy of India himself.

It all started with

a Christmas card.

"Hearty greetings to

His Excellency, the Earl of Elgin.

"To wish you a happy Christmas. "

"From Mh. Abdul Karim

"at Windsor Castle. "

"Flow'rets fair as the morning light

"wake for you, the earth be white,

"With hearts of gold

and a breath of may,

"and a wish from my heart

to yours today. "

It's hardly likely that

the earth was going to be white

in India, but never mind.

At the Viceroy's Mansion

in Calcutta,

Abdul's attempt to ingratiate

himself cut no ice.

For somebody to start writing

in that very personal way

to the Viceroy of India,

an aristocrat of incredible

standing, was extraordinary.

Imagine it - you've been

made Viceroy of India,

you're dealing with the massive

problems of the subcontinent,

you're constantly

dealing with people

at the highest level

of that society,

and then suddenly, out of the blue,

a Christmas card arrives

from Abdul Karim.

What do you do with it?

Why's he written it?

Who is he?

Although Christmas was important,

it was very much a family thing,

and an intrusion from outside

was not, I think, really expected.

I just don't think that

anybody really felt

that you really

ought to use Christmas

for sending some sort of a greeting.

Well, why not just

send an ordinary letter?

But it was wrong,

and difficult, therefore,

to make a reply,

and it was better overlooked.

I don't think it was a question

of snobbery or anything like that.

It was just incomprehensible,

somehow.

Karim's card was returned

and quietly buried

in government files in Whitehall.

When Queen Victoria

learnt of the slight,

she leapt to Abdul's defence.

Victoria liked to

stir things up, you know?

We know this because

although she knew

that the Viceroy despised Abdul,

she insisted that

the Viceroy should reply.

You know, now

the Viceroy was perplexed.

He would not deign

to write to a lower,

a creature from the lower orders,

but he had to respond, you know.

There was a place for everyone

and everyone had a place.

But Karim didn't have a place.

And so it made life complicated,

An intruder, any dirt that

sort of got into the machinery,

it was difficult to know

how to remove it.

The Christmas card fiasco,

and Karim's promotion

as the Queen's Secretary,

stung the royal household

into attack.

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