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This article is about the British title. For the Indian title, see Emperor of Hindustan. For other emperors in the Indian subcontinent, see List of Indian monarchs. For the British battleship, see HMS Emperor of India.

For Lists of King of India, see: The term "King of India" has been used to refer to several dynasties that ruled over the Indian subcontinent, including the Maurya, Mughal, and the British Raj, with the Mughal dynasty being the most prominent. The Mughal Empire, established by Babur in 1526, is particularly known for its powerful emperors like Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan.

Union and after

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The kingdoms of England and Scotland were formally united into a single Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 by the Act of Union. Queen Anne consequently assumed the style "Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc.". It remained in use until 1801, when Great Britain and Ireland combined to become the United Kingdom. George III used the opportunity to drop both the reference to France and "etc." from the style. It was suggested to him that he assume the title "Emperor", but he rejected the proposal. Instead, the style became "King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith".

Queen Victoria was the first British monarch to use the style "Empress of India".

The style used by Victoria in her proclamation to "the Princes, Chiefs and People of India" in 1858 was: "Victoria, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the Colonies and Dependencies thereof in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australasia, Queen, Defender of the Faith".[1]

In 1876 "Empress of India" was added to Queen Victoria's titles by the Royal Titles Act 1876, so that the Queen of the United Kingdom, the ruler of a vast empire, would not be outranked by her own daughter, Victoria, 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). Her successor, Edward VII, changed the style in 1901, by the Royal Titles Act, to reflect the United Kingdom's other colonial possessions, adding "and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas" after "Ireland". In general usage the monarch came to be called the King-Emperor, especially in the Crown's overseas possessions and in British India and the princely states.

History

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Delhi Sultanate

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After the Delhi Sultanate gained independence from the Ghurid Empire, it called its land Hindustan, representing its sovereignity over Northern India (the Indo-Gangetic plains) and later the Indian subcontinent.[2]

Map of the Delhi Sultanate under Tuqhlaq dynasty, ruling over most of Hindustan.

Scholar Bratindra Nath Mukherjee states that during the Delhi Sultanate, Hindustan simultaneously represented Northern India as well as the entire Indian subcontinent.[3]

Mughal Empire

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The Delhi Sultanate was succeeded by the Mughal Empire, which called its polity Hindustan. By this period, Hindustan had come to mean the entirety of the Indian subcontinent rather than only Northern India.[4]

Mughal Empire in 1700, ruling over entirety of the Indian subcontinent except deep south and northeast.

British India

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See also: Style of the British sovereign
New Crowns for Old: Disraeli and Victoria in a cartoon mimicking a scene in Aladdin where lamps are exchanged. She made him Earl of Beaconsfield at this time.[5]

After the nominal Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was deposed at the conclusion of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (10 May 1857 – 1 November 1858), the government of the United Kingdom decided to transfer control of British India and the princely states from the mercantile East India Company (EIC) to the Crown, thus marking the beginning of the British Raj. The EIC was officially dissolved on 1 June 1874, and the British prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, decided to offer Queen Victoria the title "Empress of India" shortly afterwards. Victoria accepted this style on 1 May 1876. The first Delhi Durbar (which served as an imperial coronation) was held in her honour eight months later on 1 January 1877.[6]

The Imperial Crown of India

The idea of having Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India was not particularly new, as Lord Ellenborough had already suggested it in 1843 upon becoming the governor-general of India. By 1874, Major-General Sir Henry Ponsonby, the Queen's private secretary, had ordered English charters to be scrutinised for imperial titles, with Edgar and Stephen mentioned as sound precedents. The Queen, possibly irritated by the sallies of the republicans, the tendency to democracy, and the realisation that her influence was manifestly on the decline, was urging the move.[7] Another factor may have been that the Queen's first child, Victoria, was married to Frederick, the heir apparent to the German Empire. Upon becoming empress, she would outrank her mother.[8] By January 1876, the Queen's insistence was so great that Benjamin Disraeli felt that he could procrastinate no longer.[7] Initially, Victoria had considered the style "Empress of Great Britain, Ireland, and India", but Disraeli had persuaded the Queen to limit the title to India in order to avoid controversy.[9] Hence, the title Kaisar-i-Hind was coined in 1876 by the orientalist G.W. Leitner as the official imperial title for the British monarch in India.[10] The term Kaisar-i-Hind means emperor of India in the vernacular of the Hindi and Urdu languages. The word kaisar, meaning 'emperor', is a derivative of the Roman imperial title caesar (via Persian and Ottoman Turkish – see Kaiser-i-Rum), and is cognate with the German title Kaiser, which was borrowed from the Latin at an earlier date.[11]

Many in the United Kingdom, however, regarded the assumption of the title as an obvious development from the Government of India Act 1858, which resulted in the founding of British India, ruled directly by the Crown. The public were of the opinion that the title of "queen" was no longer adequate for the ceremonial ruler of what was often referred to informally as the "Indian Empire". The new styling underlined the fact that the native states were no longer a mere agglomeration but a collective entity.[12]

George V's signature with the initials R I (Rex Imperator)
A Canadian 1-cent coin with the inscription Ind. Imp. (Indiae Imperator)'

When Edward VII ascended to the throne on 22 January 1901, he continued the imperial tradition laid down by his mother, Queen Victoria, by adopting the title Emperor of India. Three subsequent British monarchs followed in his footsteps, and the title continued to be used after India and Pakistan had become independent on 15 August 1947. It was not until 22 June 1948 that the style was officially abolished.[13]

The first emperor to visit India was George V. For his imperial coronation ceremony at the Delhi Durbar, the Imperial Crown of India was created. The Crown weighs 920 g (2.03 lb) and is set with 6,170 diamonds, 9 emeralds, 4 rubies, and 4 sapphires. At the front is a very fine emerald weighing 32 carats (6.4 g).[14] The King wrote in his diary that it was heavy and uncomfortable to wear: "Rather tired after wearing my crown for 3+1⁄2 hours; it hurt my head, as it is pretty heavy."[15]

The title "Emperor of India" did not disappear when British India became the Union of India (1947–1950) and Dominion of Pakistan (1947–1952) after independence in 1947. George VI retained the title until 22 June 1948, the date of a Royal Proclamation[16] made in accordance with Section 7 (2) of the Indian Independence Act 1947, reading: "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."[17] Thereafter, George VI remained monarch of Pakistan until his death in 1952, and of India until it became the Republic of India on 26 January 1950.

British coins, as well as those of the Empire and the Commonwealth, had routinely included the abbreviated title Ind. Imp. Coins in India, on the other hand, had the word empress, and later king-emperor in English. The title appeared on coinage in the United Kingdom throughout 1948, with a further Royal Proclamation made on 22 December under the Coinage Act 1870 to omit the abbreviated title.[18]

Mughal dynasty

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Imperial Seal of the Mughal Empire

The Mughal dynasty (; Dudmân-e Mughal) was an Indian imperial dynasty,[19][20][21][22] which comprised the members of the imperial House of Babur (; Khāndān-e-Āl-e-Bābur), also known as the Gurkanis (; Gūrkāniyān).[23] They ruled the Mughal Empire from c. 1526 to 1857.

The Mughal dynasty is generally divided into the following:

Early or Great Mughals

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Later or Lesser Mughals

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  • Shah Alam Bahadur Shah I (1707-1712)
  • Jahandar Shah (1712-1713)
  • Farrukhsiyar (1713-1719)
  • Muhammad Shah Rangeela (1719-1748)
  • Ahmad Shah (1748-1754)
  • Alamgir II (1754-1759)
  • Shah Alam II (1759-1806)
  • Akbar (Shah) II (1806-1837)
  • Bahadur Shah Zaffar II (1837-1858)

Emperor of India dynasty

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The British Raj was the period of British Parliament rule on the Indian subcontinent between 1757 and 1947, for around 200 years of British occupation. The system of governance was instituted in 1858 when the rule of the East India Company was transferred to the Crown in the person of Queen Victoria.

Shared monarchy

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The British Empire at its territorial peak in 1921

During the twentieth century, the Commonwealth of Nations evolved from the British Empire. Prior to 1926, the British Crown reigned over the British Empire collectively; the Dominions and Crown Colonies were subordinate to the United Kingdom. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 gave complete self-government to the Dominions, effectively creating a system whereby a single monarch operated independently in each separate Dominion. The concept was solidified by the Statute of Westminster 1931,[25] which has been likened to "a treaty among the Commonwealth countries".[26]

The monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution, although it is often still referred to as "British" for legal and historical reasons and for convenience. The monarch became separately monarch of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and so forth; one person reigning in multiple distinct sovereign states, in a relationship likened to a personal union.[27]

George V's death in 1936 was followed by the accession of Edward VIII, who caused a public scandal by announcing his desire to marry the divorced American Wallis Simpson, even though the Church of England opposed the remarriage of divorcees. Accordingly, Edward announced his intention to abdicate; the Parliaments of the United Kingdom and of other Commonwealth countries granted his request. Edward VIII and any children by his new wife were excluded from the line of succession, and the Crown went to his brother, George VI.[28] George served as a rallying figure for the British people during World War II, making morale-boosting visits to the troops as well as to munitions factories and areas bombed by Nazi Germany. In June 1948 George VI relinquished the title Emperor of India, although remaining head of state of the Dominion of India.[29]

At first, every member of the Commonwealth retained the same monarch as the United Kingdom, but when the Dominion of India became a republic in 1950, it would no longer share in a common monarchy. Instead, the British monarch was acknowledged as "Head of the Commonwealth" in all Commonwealth member states, whether they were realms or republics. The position is purely ceremonial, and is not inherited by the British monarch as of right but is vested in an individual chosen by the Commonwealth heads of government.[30][31] Member states of the Commonwealth that share the same person as monarch are informally known as Commonwealth realms.[30]

British Crown dynasty

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Among rulers of the British Crown dynasty, prominent monarchs include Elizabeth II (1952–2022) and Charles III (2022–present) . Additionally, during British rule of the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947, monarchs of the British Crown also ruled India.

List of Monarchs of the United Kingdom

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House of Stuart

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  • Anne (In England and Scotland, 1702 – 1707. In Great Britain, 1707 – 1714) First British Monarch.

House of Hanover

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House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

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The royal household changed its name to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha after Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, but Victoria stayed part of the House of Hanover. With monarchs it started in 1901. The name was changed in 1917 by George V.

House of Windsor

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In 1917 King George V changed the royal house's name to Windsor because the United Kingdom was at war with Germany and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is a German name.

In 1922 Ireland was split into the future Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland stayed part of the United Kingdom. However, the name was not changed until 5 years later and George V continued to be King of Ireland until he died ("of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the , Emperor of India").

British Crown dynasty Timeline

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Charles IIIElizabeth IIGeorge VIEdward VIIIGeorge VEdward VIIQueen VictoriaWilliam IVGeorge IVGeorge IIIGeorge II of Great BritainGeorge I of Great BritainAnne, Queen of Great BritainHouse of WindsorHouse of Saxe-Coburg and GothaHouse of HanoverHouse of Stuart

List

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See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ Proclamation by the Queen in Council to the Princes, Chiefs and People of India
  2. ^ Jackson, Peter (2003-10-16). The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-521-54329-3.
  3. ^ Mukherjee, Bratindra Nath (1989). The Foreign Names of the Indian Subcontinent. Place Names Society of India.
  4. ^ Vanina, Evgenii͡a I͡Urʹevna (2012). Medieval Indian Mindscapes: Space, Time, Society, Man. Primus Books. ISBN 978-93-80607-19-1.
  5. ^ Harold E. Raugh (2004). The Victorians at War, 1815–1914: An Encyclopedia of British Military History. ABC-Clio. p. 122. ISBN 9781576079256.
  6. ^ L. A. Knight, "The Royal Titles Act and India", The Historical Journal, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 11, No. 3 (1968), pp. 488–489.
  7. ^ a b L. A. Knight, p. 489.
  8. ^ "Remembering Vicky, the Queen Britain never had". New Statesman. 10 June 2021.
  9. ^ L. A. Knight, p. 488.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ See Witzel, Michael, "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts", p. 29, 12.1 PDF Archived 23 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ L. A. Knight, pp. 491, 496
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Act1947 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Edward Francis Twining (1960). A History of the Crown Jewels of Europe. B. T. Batsford. p. 169. ASIN B00283LZA6.
  15. ^ Brooman, Josh (1989). The World Since 1900 (3rd ed.). Longman. p. 96. ISBN 0-5820-0989-8.
  16. ^ "No. 38330". The London Gazette. 22 June 1948. p. 3647.
  17. ^ Indian Independence Act 1947, Section 7 (2)
  18. ^ "No. 38487". The London Gazette. 24 December 1948. p. 6665.
  19. ^ Petersen, Andrew. Dictionary of Islamic Architecture. p. 198. The Mughals were an Indian Islamic dynasty which ruled most of northern India (including the area of present-day Pakistan) from the beginning of the six- teenth to the mid-eighteenth century.
  20. ^ The Limits of Universal Rule Eurasian Empires Compared. p. 276. From the time of Akbar, who resurrected the Mughal polity, to the last formidable Mughal ruler Aurangzeb (1658-1707), Mughal preoccupation with the Deccan was the single most important sign of the fact that these Timurids had become an Indian dynasty. {{cite book}}: line feed character in |title= at position 29 (help)
  21. ^ Otorbaev, Djoomart. Central Asia's Economic Rebirth in the Shadow of the New Great Game. Babur, the founder of the Indian Mughal dynasty, was born in the Ferghana Valley.
  22. ^ Lorentz, John. The A to Z of Iran. p. 283. As the 17th century unfolded, the Safavid rulers not only had the Ottomans to contend with, but also the new Russian Mus- covy that had deposed of the Golden Horde and expanded to Safavid borders, as well as the Indian Mughal Dynasty that had expanded through Afghanistan and into Iranian territory.
  23. ^ Zahir ud-Din Mohammad (10 September 2002). Thackston, Wheeler M. (ed.). The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor. New York: Modern Library. p. xlvi. ISBN 978-0-375-76137-9. In India the dynasty always called itself Gurkani, after Temür's title Gurkân, the Persianized form of the Mongolian kürägän, 'son-in-law,' a title Temür assumed after his marriage to a Genghisid princess.
  24. ^ In which Sher Shah Suri the Pashtun soldier and his successors briefly took over the government
  25. ^ Statute of Westminster 1931, Government of Nova Scotia, 11 October 2001, archived from the original on 10 November 2020, retrieved 20 April 2008
  26. ^ Justice Rouleau in O'Donohue v. Canada Archived 27 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine, 2003 CanLII 41404 (ON S.C.)
  27. ^ Zines, Leslie (2008). The High Court and the Constitution (5th ed.). Annandale, New South Wales: Federation Press. p. 314. ISBN 978-1-86287-691-0.; Corbett, P.E. (1940), "The Status of the British Commonwealth in International Law", University of Toronto Law Journal, 3 (2): 348–359, doi:10.2307/824318, JSTOR 824318; Scott, F.R. (January 1944), "The End of Dominion Status", American Journal of International Law, 38 (1): 34–49, doi:10.2307/2192530, JSTOR 2192530, S2CID 147122057; R v Foreign Secretary; Ex parte Indian Association (1982). QB 892 at 928; as referenced in High Court of Australia: Sue v Hill HCA 30; 23 June 1999; S179/1998 and B49/1998 Archived 15 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ Matthew, H. C. G. (September 2004). "Edward VIII". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31061. Retrieved 20 April 2008. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  29. ^ Matthew, H.C.G. (September 2004). "George VI". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33370. Retrieved 20 April 2008. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  30. ^ a b Boyce, Peter John (2008). The Queen's Other Realms: The Crown and Its Legacy in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Federation Press. p. 41. ISBN 9781862877009. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  31. ^ Head of the Commonwealth, Commonwealth Secretariat, archived from the original on 6 July 2010, retrieved 26 September 2008
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