Queen Victoria wrote in Urdu

December 13, 2013 16:55

And that, dear reader, is Queen Victoria's handwriting in Urdu!

The queen learnt Urdu from her secretary, an Indian Muslim called Abdul Karim. The queen's close relationship with the tall and handsome Karim has been the topic of much research.

Diaries add weight to suggestions that the queen was arguably far closer to Karim than she was to John Brown - the Scottish servant who befriended her after the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert in 1861.

They show that when the young Muslim was contemplating throwing in his job, soon after his employment started, because it was too "menial", the queen successfully begged him not to go.

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