Empress -- Victoria & Disraeli [15min]

In 1876 Victoria became Empress of India. In 1858 the Crown had taken over absolute rule of India from the East India Company. This was as the Sepoy Rebellion (aka Indian Mutiny) was being quelled. Victoria now represented the height of British imperial symbolism. It was Disraeli's doing and he brought it about largely to flatter the Queen's own imperialist aspirations. She in turn created Disraeli Earl of Beaconsfield. The magazine Punch observed, 'One Good Turn Deserved Another'. This was slightly unfair because Disraeli could have, if he had so wished, received a peerage much earlier."This Sceptred Isle: Empire" is a narrative history of the British Empire from Ireland in the 12th century to the independence of India in the 20th, told in 90 programmes written by historian Christopher Lee and narrated by actor Juliet Stevenson. (You may listen again online to the five most recent episodes of"Empire".)

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) was Baptized in 1817 and was articled to a solicitor but first became known neither as a politician nor as a lawyer but as an author with his first novel Vivien Grey in 1826. He became an MP in 1837, the year Victoria became queen. Five years later he was leading the Young England group of Tories. His attack on Peel over the Corn Laws devastated the Prime Minister's career. In 1852, with the Prime Minister, Derby, in the Lords, Disraeli as well as being Chancellor was Tory leader in the Commons. In 1868 he was briefly Prime Minister, but when defeated, instead of accepting a peerage, he asked that his wife should be created Viscountess Beaconsfield -- so she was. He became Prime Minister again in 1874. The following year Disraeli arranged for Britain to buy half shares in the Suez Canal. He left office in 1880. Victoria is said to have sent primroses for his coffin.

As for the monarch's new dignity there was popular concern that this should not be seen as despotism as some suggested. The Prince of Wales decided to make a tour to the subcontinent and in doing so was determined to enjoy himself. Victoria did not care for his going insisting that as his visit was not a state occasion, he had no official standing and that a difficult matter of precedence would be created because, by very definition, the viceroy was her constitutional alter ego.

Victoria's objections could not stop the visit. During the tour, the Prince of Wales was clearly disquieted by the attitude of British officials towards Indians. He wrote to Victoria that he was unhappy about the"...rude and rough manner with which English political officers treat the princes and chiefs upon whom they were appointed to attend". To Lord Salisbury he complained about the"...disgraceful usage of nigger...". And to Lord Granville:"Because a man has a black face and a different religion from ones own there is no reason why he should be treated like a brute".