Quote · Empire: World History
369. The First British Indians: The Suffragette Princess (Ep 1)
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Queen Victoria's Intervention: Faraday House and a New Life
At 25:16 · chapter starts 21:40
With Victor at Sandhurst, Freddie quietly antiquing in Cambridge, and the three sisters effectively parentless, Queen Victoria provides the safety net. She places the children under the guardianship of Arthur Oliphant and gives Sophia — her favourite — Faraday House, a grace-and-favour property directly opposite the front gates of Hampton Court Palace, with an annual allowance of £200. The same Crown Estate housed war widows, heroes, and royal favourites. Meanwhile, Duleep dies broken and broke in a Parisian hotel, never having made it back to Punjab. Victoria's warmth, however, is strictly selective: she kisses Sophia at her Buckingham Palace debut — an unusual mark of high favour — while keeping spies on her sisters and openly despising them for what she regards as their disloyal, 'wild and feral' attitudes. Sophia, described by the Church Times as 'a thoroughly English gal notwithstanding her Oriental name', breeds prize Pomeranians, rides early bicycles, and wins at Crufts. She is the Establishment's acceptable face of Indian royalty.
Queen Victoria gave Sophia Faraday House at Hampton Court and an allowance of £200 a year to maintain it.
Out of all Duleep Singh's daughters, only Sophia was Queen Victoria's goddaughter, named Alexandrovna in her honour. Victoria kissed her at her Buckingham Palace debut — a sign of extraordinary royal favour — while openly despising Sophia's sisters for their disloyal tongues.
