The Duleep Singhs

This book collects together 200 superb black and white photographs which tell the story of the Duleep Singhs, the family of the late Maharajah of the Punjab, who was deposed at the age of eleven by the East India Company, and exiled to Britain.

The owner of the famous Koh-i-noor diamond, and a Christian convert, Singh became a country squire, indulging in royal hunts with the Prince of Wales and enjoying life as a houseguest of Queen Victoria at Osbourne House, as well as playing the field with a string of young beauties from Norfolk maids to Cockney stage artists.

As well as telling the story of Duleep Singh's own life, the book also shows us the lives of his children: Frederick the archaeologist, antiquarian and benefactor to East Anglia; Victor, the gambler and serial bankrupt whose wife was forbidden by Queen Victoria to have any children; Sophia, the fanatical suffragette; Catherine, the secretive and notorious visitor to war-torn Germany whose relations with her governess were more than intimate; and Princess Bamba, the grumpy self-styled Queen of Lahore, who outlived everyone, living in her own imaginary royal court.