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Emperor of India
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Emperor/Empress of India (Badishah-e-Hind in Hindustani) was used as a title by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II, and revived by the colonial British monarchs during the British Raj in India.
The term "Emperor of India" is also sometimes used to refer to Indian emperors such as Ashoka the Great of the Maurya Dynasty and Emperor Akbar of the Mughal empire. However, they did not claim this title for themselves.
gh the Mughal dynasty ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent from the 16th century onwards, they simply used the title badshah (considered in the West to be equivalent to emperor) without geographic designation.
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Emperor/Empress of India (Badishah-e-Hind in Hindustani) was used as a title by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II, and revived by the colonial British monarchs during the British Raj in India.
The term "Emperor of India" is also sometimes used to refer to Indian emperors such as Ashoka the Great of the Maurya Dynasty and Emperor Akbar of the Mughal empire. However, they did not claim this title for themselves.
Bahadur Shah II
Though the Mughal dynasty ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent from the 16th century onwards, they simply used the title badshah (considered in the West to be equivalent to emperor) without geographic designation. During the Indian rebellion of 1857, the rebel sepoys seized Delhi and proclaimed the Mughal Bahadur Shah II as Badshah-i Hind, or Emperor of India. After the rebellion was crushed, he was captured and was exiled to Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar) in 1858, and the Mughal dynasty came to an end.
British monarchs
After the Mughal Emperor was deposed by the British East India Company, and after the company itself was dissolved, the title "Empress of India" was taken by Queen Victoria from 1 May 1876, and proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1877. The title was created nineteen years after the formal incorporation into the British Empire of Britain's possessions and protectorates on the Indian subcontinent, comprising most of modern-day India (excluding the Portuguese colony Goa, the State of Sikkim, and the French colony Pondicherry), Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Burma (though the latter would be made a separate colony in 1937).
Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli is usually credited with creating the title for her. Also, the title was created when it became evident that Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal, would become an empress when her husband ascended the German imperial throne, many at the time thinking it wrong for the daughter to outrank her mother the Queen. Also, as Empress Victoria was clearly superior to the various rulers who nominally controlled parts of British India.
When Victoria died, and her son Edward VII ascended the throne, his title became "Emperor of India". The title continued until India and Pakistan became independent from the United Kingdom at midnight on 14/15 August 1947. The title itself was not formally abandoned by Edward VIII's successor, George VI, until 1948.
When signing their name for Indian business, a British King-Emperor or reigning 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, but unlike Queen Victoria, they themselves were not reigning monarchs but the wives of reigning monarchs.
British coins, and those of the Empire and Commonwealth dominions 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, and this took up to a year. This created some problems. Canadian coins, for example, were minted well into 1948 with 1947, the new year's issue shown by a small maple leaf in one corner. In Great Britain itself the title appeared on coinage through 1948.
King of India and Pakistan
George VI continued to hold the title King of India for two years during the short Governor-Generalships of Lord Mountbatten and of C. Rajagopalachari until India became a republic on 26 January 1950. George VI remained as King of the United Kingdom and King of Pakistan until his death in 1952. Pakistan became a republic on 23 March 1956, so Elizabeth II was Queen of Pakistan for four years.
Emperors and Empresses of India
| Monarch | Began | Ended | Consort |
|---|
| Emperor Bahadur Shah II (Bahadur Shah Zafar) | May 1857
proclaimed Emperor of India in Delhi;
was the Mughal Emperor since 1837 | Sept 1857 | Four - In chronological order of marriages -
Begum Ashraf Mahal,
Begum Akhtar Mahal,
Begum Zeenat Mahal,
Begum Taj Mahal. | | Queen-Empress Victoria | 28 April 1876
proclaimed in Great Britain
1 January 1877
proclaimed in India | 22 January 1901 | none - Victoria was widowed in 1861, before her accession | | King-Emperor Edward VII | 22 January 1901 | 6 May 1910 | Queen-Empress Alexandra (d. 20 Nov. 1925) | | King-Emperor George V | 6 May 1910 | 20 January 1936 | Queen-Empress Mary (d. 24 Mar. 1953) | | King-Emperor Edward VIII | 20 January 1936 | 11 December 1936 | none | | King-Emperor George VI | 11 December 1936 | 15 August 1947
Indian independence
22 June 1948
title abandoned | Queen-Empress Elizabeth (d. 30 Mar. 2002) |
See also
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