Tag Archive for: Queen Victoria

🎧 THE GREEDY QUEEN: EATING WITH VICTORIA

From a recording at Chalke Valley History Festival 2017.
Come and sit down at the royal table and open the kitchen door to hear about what Victoria ate, and how she changed English food forever. Based on intriguing original research, historian Annie Gray shows the Queen’s absolute reliance on food as well as delving below stairs for a proper look at the cooks who played such an important role.

🎧 GREAT VICTORIANS: QUEEN VICTORIA, CHARLES DICKENS, DAVID LIVINGSTONE

Recorded at Chalke Valley History Festival 2017.
Three distinguished authors of books for children, Kate Hubbard, Andrew Billen and Amanda Mitchison give an entertaining and informative introduction to historical figures. We hear about Victoria, just 11 when she realised her destiny was to become Queen; the gripping life of Charles Dickens which fed into his work; and the incredible story of David Livingstone who stopped at nothing to be the first white man to explore Africa.

🎧 VICTORIA AND ABDUL


The relationship between Queen Victoria and her Indian attendant Abdul Karim was deemed so controversial by her family that his existence was scrubbed from royal history upon her death. Shrabani Basu, whose book is now a feature film, explores how a young Indian Muslim came to play a central role at the heart of Empire at a time when independence movements in the sub-continent were growing in force.

Five things that may change your mind about Queen Victoria

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Queen Victoria ruled from 20 June 1837 to 22 January 1901, making her the second longest reigning monarch in Britain. To many she is thought of as a dour, rigid monarch – perhaps because she is oftentimes seen dressed in black and with a downturned expression in her portraits. However, the real Queen was engaged with her work and remained interested in her subjects across the globe for over 63 years. Here are five things you may be surprised to find out about the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India:

1. She liked curries

Queen Victoria tasted her first authentic Indian curry in 1887 when her servant Abdul Karim cooked it for her. She pronounced the curry to be ‘excellent’ and then ordered that curries would be cooked in the Royal kitchens every day. For thirteen years till her death, curries were always cooked and served at luncheon. Victoria’s favourite curries were chicken curry and daal.

She longed to eat a mango from India, but the sea journey was so long, they were always rotten by the time they reached her.

2. She learnt to read and write in Urdu

Victoria wanted to learn Urdu or Hindustani as it was known, and requested Abdul Karim to teach her. He was soon promoted to be her teacher or Munshi. She took her lessons every day, never missing one, even if she was travelling. Towards the end of her life, she could write half a page of fluent Urdu.

She completed 13 volumes of her Hindustani Journals, one for each year that she spent in the company of Abdul Karim. Her last entry, two months before her death, was in November 1900. Victoria died in January 1901.

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Nutmeg Tree, Sumatra, 1824

3. She was Empress of India, but never visited

Victoria was given the title of Empress of India in 1876 by her Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. She was delighted with the title and longed to visit India, but the sea journey was too long and she never did. She once wrote that she would give anything to see the Taj Mahal.

She sent artists to India to paint the ordinary people and artisans, so she could understand the real India.