Book excerpt: Veerarajendra, the exiled raja of Coorg and his eleven-year-old daughter Gowramma, were the first Indian royals to land in Britain in the summer of 1852. In this book, C.P. Belliappa has reconstructed the extraordinary saga of the earliest Indian royalty to live in Victorian England. By unearthing hitherto unpublished material, he explores the true motives behind Veerarajendra's decision to move to England Queen Victoria's designs to marry his daughter to another exiled royal: Maharaja Duleep Singh of Punjab and the remarkable affection bestowed on the young princess by the English queen.