Emperor of India
| Emperor of India | |
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Imperial
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King-Emperor George VI
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| Details | |
| Style | His/Her Majesty |
| First monarch | Victoria |
| Last monarch | George VI |
| Formation | 1 May 1876 |
| Abolition | 22 June 1948[1][2] |
| Residence | Buckingham Palace |
| Appointer | Hereditary |
| Pretender(s) | Title abolished |
The title Emperor of India was used by the British monarchs during the British Raj in the Indian Subcontinent from 1876 (see Royal Titles Act 1876) until 1948,[3] after India had attained independence from the United Kingdom, when for a transitional period the British monarch was also king of the independent dominions of India and Pakistan.
The term "Emperor of India" is also used to refer to Indian emperors such as Great Chola [Raja rajan] Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Dynasty[4] and Emperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire. For instance, Emperor Ashoka used the word 'Samrat' as his title, which means "Emperor" in Sanskrit and other Indian languages.[5] The title was also used in 1857 by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II until he was captured by the British.
Bahadur Shah II[edit]
Though the Mughal dynasty ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent from the 16th century onwards, they simply used the title Badishah (Badishah or badshah means "Great King" or King of Kings, somewhat close to the title of emperor) without geographic designation.
During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the rebel sepoys seized Delhi and proclaimed the Mughal Bahadur Shah II as Badishah-e-Hind, or Emperor of India. He had little or no control over the rebellion. The British crushed the rebellion, captured Bahadur Shah and exiled him to Rangoon, Burma in 1858, whereupon the Mughal dynasty came to an end,[6] and the title passed with him.
British monarchs[edit]
After the British East India Company (EIC) deposed the Mughal Emperor, and after the British government dissolved the EIC in 1874, Queen Victoria was given the title "Empress of India" (or Kaiser-i-Hind, a form coined by the orientalist G.W. Leitner in a deliberate attempt to dissociate British imperial rule from that of preceding dynasties)[8] by the Royal Titles Act 1876, from 1 May 1876. The new title was proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1877. The title came into use nineteen years after the colony of British India (though Burma and Aden became separate Crown colonies in 1937) and the British protected states ('princely states') on the Indian Subcontinent came under direct British government control, following the dissolution of the British East India Company.
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (in office: 1868 and 1874-1880) is usually credited[by whom?] with the title's creation - at the same time Queen Victoria granted him the title of Earl of Beaconsfield.[9] The title was reputedly given to Queen Victoria, the ruler of a vast empire, so that she would not be outranked by her own daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal, who had married the heir to the German Empire (an empire by the necessity of establishing a federal monarchy in which several kings wished to retain their royal titles despite their subjugation to a different monarchy). When her successor Edward VII ascended the throne in 1901, he continued to use the title "Emperor of India", as did subsequent British monarchs. The title continued after India became independent on 15 August 1947 until it was formally abandoned on 22 June 1948[3] during the reign of King George VI, although he continued to be king of India until 1950 when India became a republic. He remained king of Pakistan until his death in 1952, when his daughter Elizabeth II became Queen of Pakistan. Pakistan became a republic within the Commonwealth in 1956.
When signing off Indian business, the reigning British king-emperors or queen-empress used the initials R I (Rex/Regina Imperator/Imperatrix) or the abbreviation Ind. Imp. (Indiae Imperator/Imperatrix) after their name (while the one reigning queen-empress, Victoria, used the initials R I, the three consorts of the married king-emperors simply used R). When a male monarch held the title his wife, the queen consort, used the style queen-empress, though she was not herself a reigning monarch.
British coins and those of the Empire and Commonwealth routinely included the abbreviated title Ind. Imp., although in India itself the coins said "Empress", and later "King Emperor". When in 1947 India became independent all coining dies had to be changed, which took up to a year and created some problems. Canadian coins, for example, were minted well into 1948 stamped "1947", the new year's issue indicated by a small maple leaf in one corner. In Great Britain itself the title appeared on coinage through 1948.
List of British Emperors of India[edit]
| Portrait | Name | Birth | Death | Monarch from | Monarch until | Relationship with predecessor(s) | Consorts |
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Victoria | 24 May 1819 | 22 January 1901 | 1 May 1876 [10][11] |
22 January 1901 | Given title after dissolution of the East India Company | |
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Edward VII | 9 November 1841 | 6 May 1910 | 22 January 1901 | 6 May 1910 | Son of Victoria | Alexandra of Denmark |
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George V | 3 June 1865 | 20 January 1936 | 6 May 1910 | 20 January 1936 | Son of Edward VII | Mary of Teck |
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Edward VIII | 23 June 1894 | 28 May 1972 | 20 January 1936 | 11 December 1936 (abdicated) |
Son of George V | |
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George VI | 14 December 1895 | 6 February 1952 | 11 December 1936 | 22 June 1948[2] | Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon |
References[edit]
- ^ British rule in India ended on 15 August 1947, but George VI retained the title of King-Emperor until 22 June 1948, and thereafter remained monarch of India until India became a Republic on 26 January 1950. He continued as King of Pakistan until his death.
- ^ a b The London Gazette: no. 38330. p. 3647. 22 June 1948. Retrieved 25 August 2014. Royal Proclamation of 22 June 1948, made in accordance with the Indian Independence Act 1947, 10 & 11 GEO. 6. CH. 30.('Section 7: ...(2)The assent of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is hereby given to the omission from the Royal Style and Titles of the words " Indiae Imperator " and the words " Emperor of India " and to the issue by His Majesty for that purpose of His Royal Proclamation under the Great Seal of the Realm.'). According to this Royal Proclamation, the King retained the Style and Titles 'George VI by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas King, Defender of the Faith', and he thus remained King of the various Dominions, including India and Pakistan, though these two (and others) eventually chose to abandon their monarchies and became republics.
- ^ a b India Independence Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 30)
- ^ "Aśoka – Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Online encyclopædia. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
- ^ Ashoka by R. G. Bandarkar (Asian Educational Service: 2000)
- ^ William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857 (2008) pp 179, 200, 208, 275, 339-40
- ^ Harold E. Raugh (2004). The Victorians at War, 1815-1914: An Encyclopedia of British Military History. ABC-CLIO. p. 122.
- ^ B.S. Cohn, "Representing Authority in Victorian India", in E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition (1983), 165-209, esp. 201-2.
- ^ History of the Monarchy, Victoria
- ^ Proclaimed Empress of India on 28 April 1876 in the United Kingdom
- ^ Proclaimed Empress of India on 1 January 1877 in India
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