In 1877, Queen Victoria became Empress of India, nineteen years after India became part of the British Empire. Queen Victoria was very interested in India and in 1887, she began to learn the Indian language Hindustani, under the teaching of one of her servants, Abdul Karim.

This is a page from one of Queen Victoria’s Hindustani diaries. It is thought that Queen Victoria wrote the English text at the bottom; that Abdul Karim then wrote the middle section, with the English text put into the correct word order for the Hindustani translation, and the Hindustani words below, in English script; and that, finally, the Queen wrote the text in Urdu characters.

© Royal Archives, Windsor Castle

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Tasks
13a. Why do you think Queen Victoria wanted to learn Hindustani? What does this source tell us about how she felt about her position as Empress of India?