“To the living we owe respect, to the dead we owe the truth.”
This is the controversial
story of the friendship between George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon of Highclere
Castle , and Prince Victor Duleep Singh the grandson
of Maharajah Ranjit Singh of Lahore , the Lion of
the Punjab and the founder of the great Sikh
empire.
Victor’s father (pictured here), the last Maharajah of Lahore
with his family, were the first Sikh setters in Britain
With
his handsome half-Indian, half -European appearance, (he had a
mother of German descent, Bamba Muller) Prince Victor stood out as an
attractive male figure in Society circles in Victorian and Edwardian days.
Bamba ( pictured above) painstakingly guarded the inner weaknesses of her precious son, she called "Vickie", especially when he was young, against the temperamentally and highly charged
figure of the Maharajah.
George
shared with Victor a domineering father figure in the background of a dysfunctional
childhood. Henry, the 4th Earl of Carnarvon was
clever, but at times humourless and was almost always unwilling to compromise
over his son, George.
In
their development years the two boys were virtually co-joined. Almina, Countess of Carnarvon
(wife of George, from 1895) described the two figures as being almost “umbilically connected”[i]
.
In this book William Cross (biographer of Lord
Carnarvon of Egyptology fame, and author
of several books on Almina, 5th Countess) reflects on the
lives of George and Victor and their often furtive relationship. Cross suggests
in an extraordinary and damning finale that from the facts and credible
evidence available today more than 100
years after the death of both men, their families and followers may boast a combined
legacy within the British Peerage.
However, that legacy is a curse as deadly as that of Tutankhamun.
It is the Curse of the Carnarvons!
Enquiries : Contact the Author, William Cross, FSA Scot
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