'Dynastic Diplomacy' and the Global Politics of the Anglo-Punjabi Royal Friendship, 1806–1854. (4th May 2022) - Atwal, Priya
ABSTRACT: This paper is grounded in a study of the diplomatic and personal relations that existed between the royal families of Maharajah Ranjit Singh (ruler of the Sikh Empire) and the British queen, Victoria. It uses this background to analyse the varying ways in which the concept of 'dynasty' was differentially constructed and deployed across the increasingly entangled contexts of nineteenth-century Britain and India; especially once the Sikh Empire's last Maharajah, Duleep Singh, became a ward of the East India Company and a close friend to Victoria. The meanings of 'royal blood' and 'lineage' applied to Duleep Singh in the European courtly context are particularly examined within this article. However, in connection with this, the paper further outlines how the accordance of such recognition to the deposed Maharajah can be seen as ironically marking the apogee of Ranjit Singh's ambition to establish his closest kin as superior and exalted rulers (arguably as a new imperial dynasty during its earlier heyday) – despite the fact that notions of blood were not valued in entirely the same way within the Punjabi context.