Re: Victoria and Abdul
Originally Posted by
susan m
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Went to see this yesterday , I really enjoyed it . I'm wondering how much is historically fact . Abdul was hated wasn't he . Wonder if Bertie really threatened her to be declared insane . How out of touch the royals were with her subjects , living in luxury while the ordinary folk toiled and lived in poverty
I wondered about the facts as well, Susan, spent a lot of time in the reference library checking and - yes - Bertie really did try to have her sectioned. Victoria did learn Urdu and used it to keep journals - delighting in the fact that no-one else could read them. Bertie and the family did, indeed, ransack Abdul's house, evict him and his wife, and take back everything Victoria had every given him. Apparently she and he used to write letters to each other 2 or 3 times a day - these were all burned. All Abdhul was left with was the plot of land in Agra that Victoria had granted him - she knew what would happen after her death and wanted to keep something safe for him.