The Star of the Order of the Star of India, used as a badge of British Imperial India

Emperor/Empress of India (Badishah-e-Hind in the Hindustani language) 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^[1] and Emperor Akbar the Great of the Mughal empire. However, they did not claim this title for themselves.

[edit] 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.

[edit] British monarchs

New Crowns for Old depicts Disraeli as Abanazer from the pantomime version of Aladdin offering Victoria an imperial crown in exchange for a royal one.

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 introduced 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). Usually credited with the title's creation is Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.^[2]

There were several motivations for the instatement of the imperial title. It had become 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 thought it wrong for the daughter to outrank her mother the Queen. Furthermore, Victoria's superiority to the various rulers who nominally controlled parts of British India was considered justification for the title "Empress."

A plaque on the Manchester Town Hall records George VI's titles before giving up "Emperor of India".

Signature of King Edward VIII
The 'R' and 'I' after his name indicate 'king' and 'emperor' in Latin ('Rex' and 'Imperator').

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Emperors and Empresses of India

[edit] See also

• List of Indian monarchs
• List of Mughal emperors
• List of British monarchs
• Mughal Empire
• President of India
• President of Pakistan
• Governor-General of Pakistan
• Governor-General of India
• Governor-General

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "Aśoka – Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Online encyclopædia. Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-38797/Asoka. Retrieved 2008-07-08. 
2. ^ History of the Monarchy, Victoria