In the introduction, Basu explains how a visit to the restored Durbar room at Osborne House in 2001, in her research of the Queen's taste for curry, drew her attention to a painting of Karim on the wall of the Indian corridor, and how "he looked more like a nawab than a servant".[1][2][3]
The historical context of when and where Karim was born is followed by an account of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886 and how he was subsequently recruited by the superintendent of Agra Central Jail, John W. Tyler, to wait on the Queen in England during her Golden Jubilee. The display of Indian maharajahs is detailed before the story of how Karim came to be in Queen Victoria's regular presence, giving her daily lessons in Urdu.
Sources in the book include the Royal collections at St James's Palace, Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, Osborne House, material from the British Library, the diaries and scrapbooks of Sir James Reid, the unpublished personal memoirs of Abdul Karim, kept in Karachi, India office records, journals written by Queen Victoria in Urdu, and several newspapers. Secondary sources include Michaela Reid's Ask Sir James (1987).[4][5]
Bibliographic details
Victoria & Abdul was first published in 2010, then in 2011 and 2017, by The History Press, based in Gloucester. The book has 334 pages, beginning with a contents page, author's note, acknowledgements, a forward, a diagram of Queen Victoria's family tree, a mid-19th century map of British India territories, a map of the United Kingdom showing the locations of the Queen's palaces, and a dramatis personae, followed by an introduction, 15 chapters, an epilogue, notes and sources, a bibliography and an index. Between pages 224 and 225, are 16 pages of photographs.[6]
The Washington Times described the author as having "done solid homework".[8] The BBC History Magazine stated that the book told a "charming tale which should have been told before", and in Dawn, the book was described as "a mélange of history, drama and fantasy".[9] The Times of India said that its power lay in it being "fact rather than fiction".[9]
The review in The Washington Post ended with "it's good that the story of the queen and her munshi has been brought to light, but the bright shine of Victoria & Abdul means there's no room for history's more shadowy parts".[10] A review in The New York Times was titled "When the Empress of India Met Her Muslim Teacher".[11]Vanity Fair questioned why their relationship was so controversial. Basu had examined Queen Victoria's Hindustani journals and Karim's personal diaries, unlike previous biographers of the Queen.[12]
