Product Description

The colourful narrative history of Duleep Singh, the last Emperor of the Sikhs and protege of Queen Victoria, and his bizarre attempts to regain his kingdom of the Punjab from the British Empire in the late 19th century. In July 1997 the Swiss Bankers' Association, under international pressure to atone for wartime compliance with Hitler's Germany, published a list of over 1,700 'dormant accounts', untouched for over fifty years. The names were supposedly those of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, but among them was an Indian princess, 'last heard of in 1942 living in Penn, Bucks'. Intrigued, Christy Campbell, a journalist on the Sunday Telegraph, started to search the records, and so uncovered the remarkable story of how Maharajah Duleep Singh, the last Emperor of the Sikhs, was made by the British -- as a nine-year-old in 1849 -- to sign away his kingdom of the Punjab and give Queen Victoria the Koh-i-Noor diamond (the most celebrated diamond in the world, and the jewel in Britain's Crown). Duleep Singh, a virtual prisoner of Queen Victoria in England, began to dream of regaining his kingdom, and so embarked on a series of adventures (involving Russia and the 'Great Game' of Central Asia) before finally begging Victoria's forgiveness. He had six children and died in 1893. Today the Sikhs still claim their inheritance, including the Koh-i-Noor and the now-divided Punjab.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #320517 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1997, Christy Campbell, then a journalist on the London Sunday Telegraph, was following the story of Jewish victims of the Holocaust who were announced as having had "dormant accounts" in Swiss banks, and whose descendants were therefore entitled to compensation. However, among these names was one that rather stood out: one Princess Catherine Duleep Singh, last heard of residing in Penn, Buckinghamshire, in 1942. Like all good journos, Campbell immediately scented a scoop, and began to investigate. "I started out on a treasure hunt and found a love story". What he discovered was quite astounding: Princess Catherine was none other than the descendant of Maharajah Duleep Singh, the last Emperor of the Sikhs, and his story was every bit as glamorous and tragic as that of the last Emperor of China.

In 1849, at the age of 10, the Maharajah, his armies defeated in the field by the British, was brought to London. Oh, and with him came a certain rather famous diamond: the Koh-i-Noor, "acquired" by the East India Company and presented to Queen Victoria. The Maharajah settled down for a while as an English country gentleman, at Elveden Hall in Suffolk, and married an English chambermaid. But later in life he grew more and more obsessed with his lost inheritance, and the exchange of the majesties of the Punjab for a few acres of rural Suffolk did not seem to him quite fair... This is very much the territory of what Rudyard Kipling christened "The Great Game". Kipling himself wrote about it in his own masterpiece, Kim, as did Patrick French more recently in his prize-winning biography, Younghusband. Christy Campbell now joins this select band of chroniclers of the wilder margins of the British Empire, in a story that, one imagines, would make a brilliant film. Merchant-Ivory, where are you? --Christopher Hart

About the Author
Christy Campbell was a publisher's editor before turning freelance writer. He has written for the Sunday Telegraph since 1990 when he joined as Defence Correspondent covering the Gulf War. He has made a speciality of 'forensic historical investigations' and produced a series of special supplements for the Sunday Telegraph on 20th-century history. He has also written a number of non-fiction books on World War II, and broadcast on radio and television.

Customer Reviews

Death by a thousand (mostly irrelevant) personalities
The book starts out well and engages the reader with insights into the court of Maharajah Ranjit Singh of Punjab through colonial British eyes. It sets the scene well enough and gives the reader some kind of picture for the ways things were in the court of Lahore, the demise of the kingdom after Ranjit Singh's collapse and the taking to England of Duleep Singh.

Thereafter the book plunges into the deep intricacies of French, Russian, British, American, Irish, German (and more) spying activities, with barely tangible relevance to the story of Duleep Singh. Admirable though the volume of detailed research is, the author forgot that the reader was not with him when he did his research. The book is filled with incidental details involving characters who simply fleet in and out of the book. When the book has hundreds of such characters, how does the author expect the reader to remember on page 302 a character that was last mentioned (briefly) on page 24?

The author would have done better to stick to the story of Duleep Singh in a more confined context than every nuance of the Great Game in nineteenth century politics. It was apparent that the author was very intrigued by the discoveries he made during his research. He made the mistake, however, of sharing every miniscule scrap of information with the reader. The result? A confused narrative, leaving the reader exhausted and glad that the end had finally arrived.

I would also concur that the author failed to take a neutral stance, let alone one sympathetic to the Sikh claims for sovereignty. Doubtless Duleep Singh was a deeply flawed character - a fool even - but the author's tone reflected the precise mocking nature of the India Office correspondence that was his research material. The fact, for example, that Duleep's children maintained a defiant nature against the British was merely mentioned rather than explored. Sikh sentiments - a key ingredient in the real story of Duleep Singh - received scant regard in this book.

The result is, sadly, disappointing.

Typical British prejudice - makes it a better read
"The Maharajah's Box" is, in my opinion, written with a typical British prejudice - but I think that makes it an even better read. The downside of the book is its pseudo-narrative style; it meanders into and out of obscure, sometimes inappropriate, sub-themes that detract the reader from the gripping tale itself. Historical facts are often and conveniently betrayed; especially when they support the rights of the Sikhs, their King and their Kingdom. Important details are omitted, and one is left wondering why on the earth the author chose this particular piece of world history, which is as sad as it is interesting. The glaring mistake in the last sentence of the book makes me wonder whether the author is plotting a sequel .....

A truly riveting read!
The Maharajah's Box is a true eye-opener. If I didn't already know of the story of the hapless Maharajah Duleep Singh, I would surely say that this book was an excellent piece of fiction. As it is a book of non-fiction, it is even more amazing!

The author, Mr. Campbell, has definitely done his homework when writing this book. The details are so intricate, even some of my Sikh friends were unaware of them!

It has to be said that I have not been able to put this book down since I bought it. I have read it from beginning to end, chewing over the facts and imagining the environment of both Victorian Britain and of course, the Sikh Punjab in the 1800s, which Mr. Campbell so vividly brought to life.

The author has really made me research further the history of not only Maharajahs Duleep Singh and his father (one of the greatest rulers the world has seen) Ranjit Singh, but the Sikh religion, which despite all that bad fate throws at it, flourishes as a truly great creed, producing humans worthy of the name.

Well done, Mr. Campbell, and my congratulations on this excellent piece of writing. You deserve it!