'Born in 1876, Princess Sophia Duleep Singh was the daughter of the last Sikh ruler of the Punjab and goddaughter of Queen Victoria. After her father lost control of his empire and was exiled to England, Sophia had a privileged but troubled upbringing that left her unsure about where she belonged - in India or England. Sensitive to injustice, she became a Suffragette and fought hard to win the vote for women. This is the extraordinary story of her life.'
One of the things that I really love about the historical books that Barrington Stoke produce is that they often choose figures that people may only have a vague knowledge of, or even that you've never heard of. I love picking up their books knowing that I'm going to learn something new and interesting, that I'm going to come across a part of history that I've never leaned about before.
The Royal Rebel takes a look at Sophia Duleep Singh, the daughter of the last Sikh ruler of the Punjab. Raised in England in the Elveden country estate, Sophia was treated like a princess. Their home was filled with expensive artworks and luxuries, and the grounds played host to animals from across the world. She grew up with everything she could have wanted; but one day that began to change.
Over the course of her childhood we see her family getting into further and further financial difficulties, and we see how this strained the family. Eventually her father abandoned his wife and children, living out the remainder of his days away from his responsibilities. It's here that we see the seeds of discontent begin to take root in Sophia, as she realises her life isn't perfect; and that the people in charge of the country she was raised in are a large reason for this.
During a trip to India Sophia realises that despite being a princess the British people don't actually care about her, and that they will quickly wash their hands of her and leave her alone to fend for herself. It's only through the kindness of the Punjabi people that she and her sisters are even able to get by in their ancestral home. Soon she and her sisters have given up all love for England, and have decided that Indian independence should be their goal. Whilst her sisters stay in India Sophia returns to England, hoping to use her position there to help the cause.
Over the years Sophia does a lot of charity work and fundraising for the lascar's who were left to live in squalor in England. Eventually, Sophia learnt about another fight for freedom; the fight for women's right to vote. After attending a Suffrage meeting Sophia joined up with the cause, and over the next few decades campaigned tirelessly to help women to gain the right to vote.
The life of Sophia Duleep Singh is a pretty amazing story, and it couldn't have been easy for Bali Rai to condense it down into a book that was easy for kids to read that also contained all of the important parts of her life. However, he manages to do so, and despite the relatively short length of the book readers get given plenty of detail about the main parts of her family life, her childhood, and her various endeavours across her life.
Rai covers all of the major events in Sophia's life, but doesn't just treat the book as a list of accomplishments, and makes sure that the readers get the chance to get to know the princess a little. We spend some time in her head, see what her thoughts are, and get to understand her motivations.
Before reading this book I'd honestly never heard of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, but now that I know about her I can see myself going out and learning more about her. I'm definitely interested in learning about her life and her achievements in greater detail. Like past Barrington Stoke historical books, The Rebel Royal is a perfect gateway into further reading and learning, a first step to discovering about an amazing figure from history.
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