Queen Victoria took on the additional title of "Empress of India" on May 1, 1876. The following year, the title was proclaimed at the first Delhi Durbar, an Indian mass assembly held primarily to announce the Queen's new title of empress.
Queen Victoria had been eager to take on this new title ever since India came under direct British control in 1858. When the British East India Company was dissolved in 1874, Queen Victoria began urging Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to have the title granted to her.
It was hoped that Great Britain and Queen Victoria could use the new title of empress to cement the nation's image as a global power and strengthen, if only symbolically, its connections to India.
The title "Emperor of India" was used by Victoria's successors until just after Indian independence. It was downgraded to "King of India" by King George VI in June of 1948. It was abandoned altogether in 1950 when India's new constitution declared the country to be a sovereign nation and independent republic.
http://indohistory.com/queen_victoria_proclaimed_empress.html
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/india/1877empressvictoria.asp
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
In what year was "Empress of India" added to Queen Victoria's titles?
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