Victoria’s Secret is revealed

In his time, he was the most reviled figure in Queen Victoria’s court. The relationship of Abdul Karim, a 24- year- old assistant clerk at the Agra jail who came to London in 1887 to wait tables, and the ageing and lonely Queen, has been the subject of salacious gossip for over a century now.

For the first time, we will get to read about the relationship as seen through Karim’s eyes — thanks to his lost letters, pictures and diary, recovered by London based author-journalist Shrabani Basu.

Karim’s documents made their way into Basu’s hands when she came to Bangalore for the launch of Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant ( Rupa) last year, reports The Telegraph . She was approached by a blind and frail Qamar Jehan, one of Abdul Karim’s few remaining relatives, who told her about Karim’s diary. Basu flew to Karachi to read the diary — where it had been lying along with his other papers since Partition.

Karim probably knew that his papers would be read one day. A translated passage extract made available to The Telegraph by Basu reads: “ I humbly trust all mistakes will be kindly overlooked by the reader who would extend indulgence to the writer of these pages.” He describes how he was “ somewhat nervous” when he first met the Queen, and how she stopped him from leaving her services.

A carefully preserved certified copy of a letter written to Karim by the Queen ( the original was destroyed by King Edward), says: “ I shall be very sorry to part with you for I like and respect you...” Karim got his next job break soon after — as the Queen’s munshi ( teacher) and the Indian Clerk. An ecstatic Karim describes the day he got the promotion in his diary “ as a day I shall never forget.” London- based journalist Shrabani Basu got drawn into the unlikely love story while writing about the history of curry in Britain. She discovered that Karim cooked curries for the Queen. “ She was friend, mother and companion to him,” Basu said in an earlier interview. The Queen wrote to Karim every day, and would mark the letters with three Xs on occasion. “ Abdul, in a way, was India to the Queen. I realised then how much Karim meant to the Queen and how much she loved India,” Basu said.

“ Her Hindustani Journals have remained virtually unseen. I had the material translated for the first time,” said Basu. She also consulted private papers like the diaries maintained by the Queen’s doctor, Sir James Reid to write Victoria & Abdul. “ For the last 13 years of the Queen’s life, Abdul was her closest friend and confidant.

He took the place of the Scottish ghillie, John Brown, who she had relied on after the death of her husband, Prince Albert,” Basu said. The relationship clearly transcended class, language and age. “ The Queen chose Karim to teach Urdu and relied on him. She wrote how much she missed him when he went on holiday. The two spent many hours together talking about India, her family, her sorrows and her joys,” said Basu.

A revised version of Basu’s book, which will carry excerpts from Karim’s diary, may just give the muchderided Indian munshi a chance to clear his name after a century of it being besmirched.