Quote · Empire: World History
369. The First British Indians: The Suffragette Princess (Ep 1)
Where this was said
Sophia's Death, Will, and Enduring Legacy
At 55:16 · chapter starts 52:55
Sophia lives long enough to watch India ripped apart by partition in 1947 — her father's kingdom torn asunder. She takes in Jewish and other refugees during the Second World War, and Anand mentions she met two of those refugees herself. She dies on 22 August 1948, aged 72, having spanned the world from Ranjit Singh's court to the atomic age. Her funeral instructions are precise and revealing: a full Wagner funeral march, a Christian service, cremation, and her ashes returned to India — carried by her sister Bamba. In her will, bridging the communal hatred of partition, she divides her estate between a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Sikh girls' school. Her Who's Who entry, where most people wrote paragraphs of self-promotion, contained a single line under interests: 'The advancement of women.' Anand closes by previewing the next episode — the equally extraordinary story of Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh, who lived in Nazi Germany and is described as 'an Indian Schindler'.
Sophia Duleep Singh died on 22 August 1948 aged 72, having witnessed partition; she left instructions for a Wagner funeral march and for her ashes to be returned to India.
Sophia Duleep Singh died in 1948 having watched India torn in half by partition. Her will divided her estate between a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Sikh girls' school — a deliberate act of reconciliation across the communal hatred that had just consumed her father's kingdom.
When asked for her Who's Who entry, Sophia wrote only one line under interests: 'The advancement of women', which is why she disappeared from history.
Sophia's sister Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh fell in love with her German governess, lived in a German castle for 30 years, and in the 1930s risked everything to rescue Jewish families from concentration camps. Anita Anand calls her story 'an Indian Schindler' — and it has never properly been told.
