The jail superintendent, John Tyler, offered Karim the opportunity. It was there that Karim was handpicked to serve the somewhat recently christened Empress of India, Queen Victoria. He eventually secured a clerk position at a jail in Agra, one where his father and the brothers of his soon-to-be wife both worked. Under the Maulvi’s tutelage, Karim learned both Persian and Urdu. While this occupation did not place Wuzeeruddin in the upper class, it was a good job, one that allowed him to hire a Maulvi, or Muslim scholar, to tutor his son. His father, Haji Wuzeeruddin, was a hospital assistant, a skilled position that required some medical qualifications. As Basu recounts in her book of the same name, Karim was born near Jhansi, the second-oldest child of six. That diary was only recently unearthed by Shrabani Basu, the historian who wrote the movie’s source text. Yet his record lives on, thanks in large part to his diary, preserved by generations of descendants. When the queen died in 1901, her children burned every letter she sent Karim, whom they unceremoniously deported back to India. Queen Victoria in turn showered him with gifts, titles and honors, much to the resentment of the royal family. Karim was the queen’s beloved munshi, the teacher who gave her daily Urdu lessons, educated her on Indian affairs, and introduced her to curry. Queen Victoria’s unusually close friendship with her Indian servant began at the 1887 celebration and spanned 14 years, a period captured in the new movie Victoria & Abdul, starring Judi Dench as the titular queen. Karim would quickly prove to be the queen’s most trusted confidant, and the most despised member of the royal court. The young man had arrived in the United Kingdom as a “gift from India,” one intended to help Victoria address the Indian princes at her banquet. But of all the jubilee’s memorable events, it was the queen’s encounter with Abdul Karim that became the most significant. She led a grand procession to Westminster Abbey in open carriage, escorted by the Indian cavalry, greeted screaming crowds on her palace balcony, and enjoyed fireworks in the garden. As part of the festivities to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, celebrating 50 years on the throne, the Queen hosted dozens of foreign rulers at a lavish banquet.
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