Date: May 1910
Location: London
Speaker: Aga Khan III
Source: Speeches of Aga Khan III – K K Aziz
Full Text
Majority of Indians attached to the Royal Throne – it unites Indians with others in the Empire – tribute to King George V and Queen Mary.
Speaking first for myself personally, secondly, as President of the All-India Moslem League, representing seventy million Moslems, and thirdly, on this question, on behalf of all Indians, I gladly pay a tribute to King Edward and to his successor, the new Emperor of India. While a certain proportion of the Indian people has for a long time been clamouring for political rights and equality, it must not be forgotten that 999 out of a thousand, or even a bigger majority, are, and have been, and have never dreamt of being anything but loyally attached to the dynasty and the Throne. Some have regarded the British form of rule as autocratic and not in sympathy with the aspirations of the people of India, but the overwhelming majority even of these critics is passionately attached to the Imperial Throne and dynasty. The Throne is the only object in the Empire which unites us with white British fellow-subjects – a common centre of loyalty and love.
This passionate loyalty to Royalty which is partly due to the traditions and character of Orientals, is also greatly due to the extraordinary sympathy and affection shown by Queen Vic toria, by the late King, by the King and Queen, and by the Duke of Connaught towards Indians. Everyone in India knew that Queen Victoria was especially kind to, and fond of, Indians, that she kept Indian servants, and went out of her way to show courtesy to Indian Princes who visited England. Sixty years of such sympathy won her the love and unbounded affec tion of the people of my country. The late King – although he did not visit India in my time – had always shown a gracious interest in India. It was in his reign that reforms were instituted and the liberalisation of the Indian Government inaugurated, and his name will for these reasons ever have a for:emost place in the annals of India.
As to the present King and Queen, it is no flattery or exagger ation to say that during their tour in India they won the hearts not only of those who saw them, but also of the whole population.
The fame of their sympathy, kindliness, and simple dignity has penetrated to the remotest and poorest classes. O~ten I have heard it remarked by people of all conditions that the present King and Queen were the real and true Emperor and Empress of India. By their demeanour they brought it home to all classes that they were not foreign rulers coming to a country of another race, but that, though rulers and owners, they came as belonging to the same people. King George and Queen Mary have won by the right of affectionate conquest the undying love and loyalty of the millions of India, and I firmly believe that in the cour,se of their reign the white and coloured elements of the Empire will be drawn closer together by their common loyalty to t:pe Throne, and will realise how dependent the welfare of the one is to that of the other.
Source: The Civil and Military Gazette, Lahore, 3 June 1910.
The interview took place on the Aga Khan’s unexpectedly early arrival in England from India in order to attend the funeral of King Edward VII. The newspaper does not give the date of the interview. Generally an interval of a week or ten days elapsed between the appearance of a news item in the British press and its reproduction in this newspaper. Therefore, I have dated the interview in May.