Victoria & Abdul (34 page)

The Queen wrote to Reid saying she had ‘told the poor M' that it had all passed and he should not be anxious or alarm himself. She said she trusted and really thought that the stories and gross exaggerations were being gradually disposed of, but the shameful mischief which nameless people had done was quite severe and had produced a most unfortunate effect on the Munshi.

Reid replied defiantly: ‘I am sorry to hear that HM is still having concern about the M: but judging from his robust appearance and undiminished stoutness I do not think that,
although no doubt his feelings may be considerably hurt, he can be worrying so much as HM fears, or it would certainly lead on his health and appearance.'
¹³
He added that any action being taken by the Household was out of concern for the Queen.

The Queen, embarrassed at her harsh words to the doctor, wrote to him again: ‘I think I must have expressed myself badly about the M – I did not mean that he was worrying himself so as to make himself ill – only that the poor Father was distressed to write painful letters. More and more, I see by various things and inquiries that the whole thing was the grossest exaggeration and willful acceptance of stories.'

The rest of the days would have probably passed calmly at Balmoral, but the Munshi could rarely stay away from a little bit of self-publicity, causing another storm in the Palace.

On 16 October, to the shock and horror of the Household, an article appeared in
The Graphic
headlined ‘The Queen's Hindustani Tutor'. It carried a photograph of the Munshi and the Queen cosily working together in the cottage in Balmoral. The Munshi was looking directly at the camera giving the impression that he was the one in control. The photo carried the caption: ‘The Queen's Life in the Highlands, Her Majesty receiving a lesson in Hindustani from her Munshi Hafiz Abdul Karim C.I.E.' One of the Queen's dogs sat at her feet and the table was covered with a cloth showing distinctly Indian motifs.

The Household was furious. Reid discussed the article with the Queen and recorded that she was ‘uncomfortable'.
¹⁴

Two days later, determined to come to the bottom of the affair, Reid cycled eight miles in the afternoon to Ballater and saw Milne the photographer, who told him that the Munshi had met him on 16 June at Ballater Station and ordered him to have a photograph of the Queen and himself published in the Jubilee issue of
The Graphic
. ‘Told the Queen what Milne had said and had 3 painful interviews,' recorded Reid in his diary.

The next two days involved long and ‘trying talks' with the Queen on the ‘Munshi business'. Several tense interviews, a fourteen-page letter, a painful boil in his right leg and non-stop worrying about the Munshi affair had wearied Reid to such an extent now that he seriously considered resigning. He didn't, however, get round to giving the letter as the Queen was suddenly ‘gracious and nice', realising that she might lose the services of a trusted confidant.
¹⁵
Perhaps the Queen also agreed for once that the Munshi had overstepped his limits, but she resented being dictated to by the Household.

In sheer frustration, she wrote to Reid on 20 October from Balmoral saying she was terribly annoyed at the publication of the article and thought she was to blame for it. Yet she could not forgive the Household for continually trying to find fault with the Munshi and felt that Reid also sided with them. She wrote:

Article on Karim – ‘The Queen's Hindustani Tutor' – from
The Graphic
.

I feel continually aggrieved at my gentlemen wishing to spy upon and interfere with one of my people whom I have no personal reason or proof of doubting and I am greatly distressed at what has happened. I have suffered enough from having suspicions put into my mind and if I am put into a still further difficulty I shall be unable to talk as I did before even to you whose kindness I should most gratefully acknowledge.

Torn between her Household and the Munshi, the Queen ordered Reid to see Milne and explain that there had been some
misunderstandings. She said she would talk to the Munshi about the affair herself, adding that she felt ‘dreadfully nervous'.

He is so furious against you all that I do not advise any interview at present – I fear, however Milne will say one thing to you and another to him – you say there is no intention or wish to drive him away – But how painful it will be for me to have a person whose veracity is disbelieved. I am feeling dreadfully nervous – I thought you stood between me and the others and now I feel you also chime against me with the rest.

I must add that the M has never complained of any of the gentlemen who now seem to doubt my word. Better put an end to this story and not try to bring about a possible scandal. I shall see him now soon and write how matters stand. But my peace of mind is terribly upset. I fear I have made great blunders in this business – I should not have repeated anything to the M that night – I can't read this through and would beg you to burn it as well as say nothing.
¹⁶

The Queen met the Munshi that evening and had a tearful exchange with him. He was furious to learn that Reid had made enquiries behind his back and contacted Milne. He informed the Queen that he had written to Milne in this regard. To the Queen's dismay, he threatened once again to return to India. The Queen wept and begged him to remain. After the painful meeting she wrote to Reid urging him not to see Milne if he called, as the Munshi had apparently written to him. The troubled Queen appealed to the doctor to let it all pass: ‘Pray let the whole thing alone which would have been better. Do nothing more. Don't see Milne. The Munshi is very angry and threatens to leave at once if he is troubled. Written in post haste. Pray burn it all.'

The next day she wrote again:

Pray do not enter into discussion with the gentlemen about the M now. It is becoming a regular habit and should not be. I am very sorry you did go to ask the photographer for it was for me to inquire and no one else to do so – I think the intention was good. But it has made it awkward. Please burn this and all long letters on the subject.
¹⁷

As the Queen veered between backing her Munshi and accusing her doctor of ganging up on her, and then apologising to him for
her action, she cut a sad and lonely figure in the Court. Reid, too, had fallen ill under the strain and retired to Ellon for a much-needed break. The Queen, sorry to see her trusted doctor ill, wrote to him expressing her concern. She wanted all discussion on the Munshi, which was putting everybody under strain, to be brought to an end.

Reid replied that it was true he had worried much from the thought that he had incurred the Queen's displeasure, but he had done what he felt was right, however much he had suffered for it. He said he was happy to learn that she did not think he had acted ‘from any unworthy motive' and that she appreciated ‘the difficult and painful position I have lately occupied in standing between your Majesty and others'.
¹⁸

The Household were also concerned about Reid. The Queen's personal secretary, Arthur Bigge, wrote to him saying he was sorry to hear about his illness. ‘Yes, you have simply become poisoned with Munshimania,' he joked, trying to make light of the situation. Bigge reported that ‘Everything (black and white) quiet as far as I know!'

Though it had been a turbulent year at the Court, and one the Queen and her doctor would like to forget, the Munshi had not really been tamed. His Hindustani lessons with the Queen took place exactly on time, her visits to see his wife with any visiting Royalty or family carried on uninterrupted and she was also enchanted by the Munshi's young nephew, Abdul Rashid, who frequently played with the Royal grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Young Rashid was admitted to a school in St Andrews and the Munshi was given time off to take him there. The Queen kept track of his welfare and noted with satisfaction in her Journal that he was happy at the school.

As the autumn days drew to a close, Abdul Karim recorded his thoughts in her Hindustani Journal, not making any reference to the storm that the Household and the Court had seen that year, but lamenting instead for the suffering the famine had caused in India. He wrote in English:

I am extremely glad to record that Her Majesty has now finished the No 10 book of her Hindustani lessons today evincing great interest. I have found Her Majesty becoming more and more eager and proficient in her Hindustani. There were but a very few days out of the whole year that Her Majesty was unable to devote the usual daily time for study. This is all the more remarkable owing to
this year being such an important and busy one. Throughout the year, Her Majesty's health has been extremely good and her reign of sixty years has been a great retrospective pleasure. I pray that Her Majesty's health may long continue good and that she may live for many more years to come. Unfortunately, I have to note that this year has been a most unfortunate and evil one for India.

No country or people in the world has shown so much kind feeling and loyalty to its Ruler than people of India have done. Yet India has been in the midst of great difficulties and disasters such as famine, plague, fever, and most unfortunate of all a severe war on the frontier. I hope God will never again bring so unlucky days to India.
¹⁹

At the end of his sober entry, he pasted a copy of the article from
The Graphic
and the offending photograph that had so incensed the Household. To the Munshi, the picture of him and his Queen sharing their precious moments together was a fitting end to the Jubilee Journal and a record of ten years of his service. He was also having a private laugh.

The Munshi left Balmoral that year confident in the knowledge that he had triumphed against the opposition. A report from the local newspaper about the departure of the Queen's party from Ballater showed how he still managed to grab the headlines, the media being oblivious of the storm in the Household.

Her Majesty's train from Ballater to Windsor on Friday 12th and Saturday 13 Nov 1897

Arrangement of Carriages

It is getting on to two, and the arrivals are growing fast and furious. The Queen's Indian secretary, the Munshi Abdul Karim, is one of the first of the inner circle of officials to arrive, looking as dignified as can be, and as one who was indeed a trusted servant of the Empress of India. His dignity – he is an absolutely self made man, a giant as the old Greeks called your ‘filius terrae', and he therefore looks neither to the left nor to the right – will not allow him to tarry a sight for sore eyes. In that peculiarly hued turban of his, he strides magnificently over the red carpet and buries himself in his own special saloon.
²⁰

The rest of the Household were barely mentioned in the article.

T
he Queen did not want to hear any more complaints about Karim and made this clear to Reid. After what had been a stormy few months, she decided to reclaim her Munshi. ‘I have in my Testamentary arrangements secured your comfort … and have constantly thought of you well,’ she wrote to him. ‘The long letter I enclose which was written nearly a month ago is
entirely
and solely my
own idea
,
not a human being will ever
know of it or of what you answer me. If you can’t read it I will help you and then burn
it at once.
’
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