The Second Floor

Thursday, 27th May 2010 | 6:00 pm

Join us at T2F for an Evening with Shrabani Basu, Author of Victoria and Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant

The tall, handsome Abdul Karim was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables during Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. An assistant clerk at Agra Central Jail, he suddenly found himself a personal attendant to the Empress of India herself. Within a year, he was established as a powerful figure, becoming the queen’s teacher or Munshi, and instructing her in Urdu and Indian affairs. Devastated by the death of John Brown, her Scottish ghillie, the queen had at last found his replacement. But her intense and controversial relationship with the Munshi led to a near revolt in the royal household.

Victoria & Abdul examines how a young Indian Muslim came to play a central role at the heart of the empire, and his influence over the queen at a time when independence movements in the sub-continent were growing in force. Yet at its heart, it is a tender love story between an ordinary Indian and his elderly queen, a relationship that survived the best attempts to destroy it.

Shrabani Basu was born in Calcutta and grew up in Dhaka, Kathmandu and Delhi. She moved to London in 1987, since when she has been the correspondent of the Calcutta-based newspapers Ananda Bazar Patrika and The Telegraph. She is the author of Curry: the Story of the Nation’s Favourite Dish, and the critically acclaimed biography Spy Princess: the Life of Noor Inayat Khan.

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This event is brought to you by Oxford University Press. Refreshments will be served at 6:00 pm and the event will begin at 6:30 pm.

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Date: Thursday, 27th May, 2010
Time: 6:00 pm
Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support our vision of intellectual poverty alleviation by donating generously.
Venue: PeaceNiche | T2F
Address | Map

Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations.

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