The Maharajah's Box by Christy Campbell

The Maharajah's Box

by Christy Campbell

The colourful narrative history of Duleep Singh, the last Emperor of the Sikhs and protege of Queen Victoria, and his bizarre attempts to regain his kingdom of the Punjab from the British Empire in the late 19th century.

In July 1997 the Swiss Bankers' Association, under international pressure to atone for wartime compliance with Hitler's Germany, published a list of over 1,700 'dormant accounts', untouched for over fifty years. The names were supposedly those of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, but among them was an Indian princess, 'last heard of in 1942 living in Penn, Bucks'.

Intrigued, Christy Campbell, a journalist on the Sunday Telegraph, started to search the records, and so uncovered the remarkable story of how Maharajah Duleep Singh, the last Emperor of the Sikhs, was made by the British - as a nine-year-old in 1849 - to sign away his kingdom of the Punjab and give Queen Victoria the Koh-i-Noor diamond (the most celebrated diamond in the world, and the jewel in Britain's Crown).

Duleep Singh, a virtual prisoner of Queen Victoria in England, began to dream of regaining his kingdom, and so embarked on a series of adventures (involving Russia and the 'Great Game' of Central Asia) before finally begging Victoria's forgiveness. He had six children and died in 1893. Today the Sikhs still claim their inheritance, including the Koh-i-Noor and the now-divided Punjab.

Reviewed by pamela on

3 of 5 stars

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This was a pretty exciting read. I thought it was well written and engaging. There were lots of jumps and a lot of information to keep track of, but I was never bored. The reason this didn't get a higher rating, however, was because this was a book I had to read for one of my most recent ghostwriting projects. As a source, it was pretty weak. A lot of information was anecdotal, rather than evidence-based, which makes for a compelling story, but made me question how much of this book was fact rather than a fiction to sell copies. I'm not hardline about popular history being heavily footnoted or referenced, however for me, there needs to be at least some evidence when trying to write a narrative of history, especially when quoting historical figures.

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  • Started reading
  • 10 June, 2019: Finished reading
  • 10 June, 2019: Reviewed