Anita Anand recounts the incredible, undocumented yet captivating story of Sophia Alexandrovina Duleep Singh—granddaughter of Ranjit Singh, the Lion of Punjab, and the daughter of his tragic, hapless, handsome, dispossessed son, Duleep Singh. Sophia was born of his union with Bamba, the illegitimate daughter of a rich German merchant in Egypt and his Abyssinian slave paramour/mistress Sofia. The extraordinary tale of Princess Sophia, goddaughter to Empress Victoria, one time fashionable fixture on the London/Brighton social circuit who went on to evolve into a leading suffragette, diehard flagbearer of women’s rights, enthusiastic supporter of Gopalkrishna Gokhale and Lala Lajpat Rai and the fledgling Indian independence movement, saviour/benefactor of the thousands of lascars who were abandoned to roam destitute, hungry, desparately ill, around London docks by callous British Empire officials, makes for fascinating reading.