Victoria and Abdul
2012, 60 minutes
A documentary on the relationship between Queen Victoria and her Indian Secretary, Abdul Karim
This documentary tells the revealing behind-the-scenes story of the first Royal Diamond Jubilee, in 1897 - and how Queen Victoria's friendship with her Muslim Indian servant Abdul Karim threatened to throw the entire event into chaos. To tx in the year of Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, the film reveals how Queen Victoria's event was almost hijacked by a scandal that set the Queen at loggerheads with her own family and the Royal Household. Drawing on documentary evidence, including Victoria's secret Hindustani Journals and the diaries of the Royal Household, the film shows how Abdul Karim became such a close confidante of the Queen that the rest of her Royal Household threatened to resign. The film provides a fascinating insight into attitudes towards race and Empire in Britain at the turn of the 20th century; and into the behind the scenes machinations of court politics in the Royal Household.