The Autobiography of an Indian Princess

I was born in 1864 at the old house known as “Sen’s House” which my great-grandfather built at Coolootola, a part of Calcutta where many of our family lived. My birth was always...

The Asram near Coolootola consisted of two houses joined together, and there we lived for a time with many of my father’s followers as one big united family (a thing hitherto un...

Many of our customs are full of colour and life, but few people of the West realise their inner and more sacred meanings. By the foreigner we are regarded more often than not as...

My happy home life continued undisturbed until I was thirteen. Indian girls of that age are more advanced than their Western sisters, but I was still very much a child, thanks t...

By this time I had become accustomed to talk of my marriage. Often I wondered with mingled fear and pleasure what sort of future was before me. At last a day came when I was to...

After we returned from Cooch Behar I found (although I understood little about such serious matters then) that most of my father’s followers had raised objections to my marriage...

“Your kind letter has given me great relief, for which I thank you most sincerely. In the midst of my present trials and difficulties it is truly a Godsend. My antagonists have...

Eight days after I lost my father I held a little daughter in my arms, and I wondered whether the innocent soul which had come into my keeping straight from God had met my fathe...

The year 1887 was expected to be a memorable one for India, as our late beloved Queen-Empress would celebrate her Jubilee. India was anxious to show her loyalty to the Sovereign...

The Princess of Wales asked me one day what I thought of the shops in Bond Street, and if I often went to them. But somehow I never went into any except my dressmaker, Madame Ol...

My children led a simple life, and they look back upon it now with happy memories. They used to go out early in the morning for their walk, come back and have their baths, then...

Rajey’s education was at first entrusted to governesses, but in Lord Lansdowne’s time, when he was about eleven, we had to settle where he should go to school. There is a colleg...

Life went on very much as usual year after year. My children, my duties, and my social interests filled up most of my time. In 1906 I went to England with Jit, Pretty, and Baby,...

A few days after my husband had passed away news of Rajey’s succession to the Gadi of Cooch Behar arrived from the Government of India. I was seated on the landing at the Porche...

Lord Lytton knew me as a little girl in India, but we did not meet again until 1887 when I was visiting England. I went with my husband to the Foreign Office party one evening....

My dear Jit has begun his work well and is doing his best to make the State prosperous. His love for his people is deep and he takes great interest in administration. He works h...