Victoria & Abdul
Focus Features
📌 Pin it
Stephen Frears's Victoria & Abdul (2017) tells the true story the royal family tried to erase. In 1887, Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal), a 24-year-old clerk from Agra, is sent to England to present a ceremonial coin to Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) for her Golden Jubilee. The lonely, grieving queen takes a shine to him; within a year he is her Munshi — her teacher and closest confidant.
The period detail spans two empires: the rigid, hidebound court at Windsor and Balmoral, and the India of the Raj that Victoria ruled as Empress but barely knew. Dench — playing Victoria for the second time after Mrs Brown (1997) — shows the queen learning Urdu, defending Karim against her racist household, and finding in him the companionship she lost with John Brown's death.
Victorian fans love it as a corrective to the marble-monument Victoria: the real queen was curious, stubborn, and capable of genuine cross-cultural friendship. It is based on Shrabani Basu's 2010 book, which uncovered Karim's story from his surviving journals after the royal family destroyed his papers.
Frequently asked
Is Victoria & Abdul a true story?
Yes — it is based on Shrabani Basu's 2010 book, which recovered the story from Abdul Karim's surviving journals. Karim really did arrive for the 1887 Golden Jubilee, become Victoria's Munshi, and teach her Urdu; after her death in 1901, Edward VII had his papers destroyed.
Who plays Queen Victoria in Victoria & Abdul?
Judi Dench plays Victoria — her second time in the role after Mrs Brown (1997) — with Ali Fazal as Abdul Karim. The film was directed by Stephen Frears and released in 2017.
What does Munshi mean?
Munshi means teacher or secretary — the title Queen Victoria gave Abdul Karim after he began teaching her Urdu (Hindustani). The court resented his rise from Jubilee attendant to the queen's closest confidant.
Why it matters today
The film restored Abdul Karim to the Victorian story — a reminder that the British Empire's most famous monarch had a genuine, documented friendship with an Indian Muslim clerk, whatever her court thought of it.
More in TV & Film
All →
Victoria
Jenna Coleman stars as the teenage queen who gave the era its name — crowns, crises, and a great love story.
Ripper Street
Whitechapel, 1889: the Ripper is gone, but H Division's detectives still walk the gaslit streets.
Penny Dreadful
Dracula, Frankenstein, and Dorian Gray stalk the fog in Gothic horror's love letter to Victorian London.