The Duleep Singh - The Photograph Album Of Queen Victoria's Maharajah
By Peter Bance
Published by Sutton Publishing Limited: Gloucestershire 2004 1st Edition
"The Duleep Singhs: The Photograph Album of Queen Victoria's Maharajah by Peter Bance is a richly illustrated and deeply evocative visual biography of Maharajah Duleep Singh, the last ruler of the Sikh Empire and a strikingly symbolic figure of the British imperial age. Removed from the Punjab as a child following the Anglo-Sikh Wars and exiled to Britain, Duleep Singh's life unfolded at the intersection of empire, identity, and displacement. Through more than 150 photographs—many previously unpublished—Bance traces Duleep Singh's transformation from Indian sovereign to Victorian aristocrat, capturing his adoption into royal circles, his friendship with Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales, and the tension between his inherited heritage and imposed Westernisation.
The album extends beyond Duleep Singh himself to document the extraordinary lives of his children, revealing the long personal and cultural aftershocks of exile. Formal studio portraits, intimate family images, and candid snapshots chart shifting identities across generations, from the suffragette Princess Sophia to the self-styled "Queen of Lahore," Princess Bamba. Carefully contextualised and supported by new research, the photographs illuminate a lost world shaped by colonial power, privilege, and profound personal cost. This work will particularly appeal to collectors of photographic history, readers of British imperial and Indian history, and those drawn to visual narratives of identity, exile, and empire."
Light fading and wear to dustjacket. Pages very clean and the book presents well. Very good condition overall. Please study photos to further understand condition.
