Victoria Gouramma

Princess Gouramma

Victoria Gowramma

London

1852–64

Princess Gouramma was the daughter of the Raja of Coorg, Chikka Veerarajendra. In 1834 Coorg had been annexed by the British East India Company and the deposed Raja was sent to live in Benaras. In 1852 he arranged for his 11-year-old daughter to be taken to England, wishing for her to live under the guardianship of Queen Victoria. Princess Gouramma was brought to Britain in 1852 by Mrs Drummond, the wife of a retired major in the Bengal cavalry. In June she was christened at Buckingham Palace and given the name Victoria. Her father died in 1859.

Gouramma became a favourite of Queen Victoria. She mentioned her frequently in her diaries and commissioned photographs by Roger Fenton and paintings by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. She was later taken under the guardianship of Lena, Lady Login, who had been a guardian for the Maharaja Duleep Singh. In 1854 the Maharaja Duleep Singh was brought to Britain, and Queen Victoria expressed her hope that Duleep Singh and Gouramma should marry but this did not transpire. In 1860 Gouramma married Colonel John Campbell and in 1861 gave birth to their daughter Edith.

Princess Gouramma died from tuberculosis in 1864 at the age of 23. She was buried in Brompton Cemetery in south-west London. Her gravestone noted that she ‘was brought early in life to England and was baptised into the Christian faith under the immediate care and protection of Queen Victoria who stood sponsor to her and took a deep interest in her throughout her life’.