Her majestic mien still reigns

Her majestic mien still reigns
Deccan Herald

She is one of Bangalore’s better known icons. As you enter Cubbon Park from the south-eastern end, you encounter her. In her day, the ruler of the mightiest empire that stretched from India, Australia, Canada and parts of Africa to the South Pacific. Now, standing loftily, regally…aloof.

And yet, hers is the classic ‘poor little rich girl’ story. Her father died before she was one. As a 10-year-old when taken around the country, she was shocked at the poverty, griminess of the people she saw. On learning that she would one day be queen, she said, “I will be good”. At 18 she got the chance.

On her accession to the throne, the subjects became skeptical, and monarchy got bad press. In a short time, she changed all that with her ‘modesty and practicality’.

She married a first cousin, Albert who exercised considerable influence in her life and turned out to be a valuable confidant and companion.

But he died young. The marriage had its ups and downs, and the loss devastated her. She withdrew from public life for three years till Benjamin Disraeli drew her back to her duties.

As Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, she covered herself with remarkable achievements: wider voting rights, labour reforms, railways, industrial revolution, boost to science and technology, constitutional monarchy, and so on. Danger and dissent were her constant companions – seven assassination attempts were made.

Empress of India

A stoic attitude towards these attacks greatly strengthened her popularity. Her reign lasted 63-years 216 days, the longest monarchy in history. When she took over as the Empress of India in May 1876, India was witnessing change through dramatic chain of events.

Mangal Pandey et al sowed the seeds for what is described as India’s first fight for freedom. The East India Company got rapped and the Crown, through the British parliament, took over India’s governance. To proclaim her the "Empress of India", a grand durbar was organised by Viceroy Robert Lytton. Delhi was dressed up for the occasion on that cold wintry first day of January, 1877.

Bejeweled maharajas, nawabs, princes, chiefs, and nobles in all their finery gathered at the function.

Historian Eva March Tappan is quoted as saying, “Delhi must have witnessed many splendid pageants, when the Rajput, the Moghul, and the Mahratta dynasties, each in its turn, was at the height of its glory; but never before had princes and chiefs come from all parts of Hindustan, vying with each other as to the magnificence of their entourage, and met together with the same objective, that of acknowledging the Empress Queen”.

A man in 'white khadi', Ganesh Vasudev Joshi, had rushed to read a citation: "We beg of Her Majesty to grant to India the same political and social status as is enjoyed by her British

subjects."

The swadesh plea didn’t quite shake the foundations but it was heard, and caused a flutter among the gathering.

On this note began

Queen Alexandrina Victoria’s turbulent but nearly 24-year-old association with India. Though she did not visit the land, she was much admired. And when she died on January 22, 1901, India like the rest of the Empire, wept. On her death the Colonies went about dedicating buildings, statues, or naming medals, ships, provinces, railway stations, and even hotels after her.

In Cubbon Park a grand statue was installed — complete with a ‘conventional pose, but with much made of the drape of the cloak over her left arm’.

This is a replica of the Thomas Brock statue outside Birmingham Council House. The UK work was unveiled on January 10, 1901, just 12 days before her death. It was first made in marble, and later, in 1951, cast in bronze.

February 5, 2006 marked 100 years of the statue in Bangalore. Your next time there, pause to reflect on the personality on the pedestal. Not only was she ‘the longest reigning British monarch, and the figurehead of a vast empire, and an inspiration for a highly complex culture’.

She was the first woman to have such sweeping power. And history says Queen Victoria put that power to ‘good’ use.