Victoria & Abdul: The true story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant by Shrabani Basu

Abdul Karin was 24 years old when he was dispatched from Agra as a gift to 68-year-old Queen Victoria, whom he was to serve as an attendant. The tall and handsome Indian Muslim barely spoke any English, nor the Empress of India any Urdu. Karin grew to have a profound influence over the monarch and what followed was a relationship of such intimacy and tenderness that the British establishment tried their hardest to destroy all evidence of it. In ‘Victoria & Abdul’ historian Shrabani Basu  unearths a story that shows a new side of Victoria and places a young Indian at the heart of the Empire.