In instalment 17 of the British historical video dramatic event , " Victoria , " titled " Comfort and Joy , " the King of Dahomey " gifts"Queen Victoriaan African princess by the name of Sarah . Even for 1846 , the motion is disturb to say the least , but as many fictionalize versions of the Queen ’s life have evoke , Sarah grew to be more than a possession ; she endear herself to themonarchand even became her goddaughter . While the story may fathom sweet-smelling , and even advise some form of overcoming of institutionalised racial discrimination , it ’s mostly just that — a story . Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies was a real person , and she really did have a close connection to Queen Victoria , but it may not have been quite the experience - good tale it ’s been gyrate into over the last hundred and a half .
According to generator and historianHelen Rappaport , the fact introduce onscreen and in numerous retellings of the relationship between Victoria and Sarah are a moment muddled . And complicate the on-key history further is the fact that there is very little primary informant material on Sarah , " which has led to a certain amount of unverified hagiography about her chronicle , " says Rappaport .
Captured and Gifted to England’s Queen Victoria
But what we do screw about Sarah is that she was a West African Yoruba miss who was captured by the King ofDahomeyin 1848during a " slave - hunt " war thatkilled her parent . In 1850 , when Sarah was about 8 days old , Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the Royal Navy visited Dahomey on a especial mission and convinced King Ghezo of Dahomey to let Sarah go back to Britain with him . It’sreportedthat he differentiate the leader , " she would be a present from the King of the Blacks to the Queen of the Whites . "
Taking on the name of Forbes and his ship , the Bonetta , Sarah ( whose original African name is think to have beenAina ) returned to England with the captain and was presented to Queen Victoria . According to an article written by Rappaport , Sarah was positively take in by the Queen who had " always had a fascination for her black and colonial issue at a time when such involvement was rarified among the white aristocracy . " Victoria nickname her Sally and continued to invite her back to Windsor for regular sojourn .
" What I find most interesting about her tarradiddle is the way in which Queen Victoria accept Sarah under her wing , " Rappaport says via electronic mail . " inordinately for her time , the Queen was not racially prejudiced and did her best for Sarah within the limitation of Victorian attitudes to race that then prevail . "
While Sarah did give several visit to the tabby during her first year in England and even became peculiarly close with her daughter , Princess Alice , her wretched wellness prompted Victoria to send her back to Africa in May 1851 . Victoria believed the moist English climate was worsening Sarah ’s status , and she pay up for the girl ’s education at a missionary post schoolhouse in Sierra Leone . Over the next four class , however , Sarah grow increasingly dysphoric back in Africa and in 1855 , Victoria commanded her return to England .
" What I most admire about Sarah is that she was not afraid to verbalize out and pen and tell the Queen of her unhappiness when she was sent back to Africa in May 1851 , " Rappaport says . " The Queen had her brought back to England in 1855 as before long as she heard . "
When she return in December , Victoria wrote in her diary , " project Sally Forbes , the negro young lady whom I have had educated : she is vastly grown and has a endearing public figure . "
An Overblown Tale
But while Sarah clearly held a special place in Victoria ’s heart , she was n’t the foster daughter many dramatized accounts have made her out to be . " Victoria did not look at Sarah as ' phratry ' — this a myth perpetuated by hoi polloi who want to invest more significance in the human relationship than there really was , " Rappaport says . " The queen sure as shooting was fond of and indulged Sarah but she did not take her into the tit of the royal family and she did not last with the royal family at Windsor as some sources suggest ( notably theITV " Victoria " serial publication ) . A bunch of the prescribed proportionateness touch to Sarah ’s care was carried out byMrs . Harriet Phipps , the married woman of the Queen ’s Keeper of the Privy Purse , Sir Charles Phipps , who would have dealt with any monies paid to support Sarah ’s sustenance , etc . There is most nothing relating to firsthand exchanges between the Queen and Sarah direct , though it is known that Sarah did indite to her . "
" Sarah seemed very close to the Queen and probably did appear upon her as a parental number , but the real surrogate parents were Captain Forbes , who rescued her in Dahomey , and his wife , " Rapport says . " Sadly , Forbes pass away not long after — in 1852 — and his widow had several child and could not take Sarah in . "
Sarah Marries James Pinson Labulo Davies
In 1862 , Sarah married a West African man of affairs , James Pinson Labulo Davies , and their wedding made headlines across England . " The press made a lot of her marriage ceremony in 1862 — but again , it was the oddment value of two black people having a company wedding in Brighton which was an extraordinary event as far as the public were occupy , " Rappaport aver . " I really do n’t think we can say that she had any influence or significance in her own life-time or even in the years after her death — bar the obvious ' curiosity value ' of having been a captive institutionalize as a gift to the Queen . Any ' influence ' Sarah has is very retrospective and comes much later with the rediscovery of her story in the 1980s and 1990s . "
Soon after marrying Davies , Sarah gave birth to her first tyke , and named her daughter Victoria , in honor of the Queen who agreed to do as the girl ’s godmother . While there may not be any grounds of any verbatim proportionateness between Davies and the Queen , Rappaport pronounce the youthful girl was probably welcome to confabulate the regal residence on a regular basis .
" It is suggested that Sarah did , however , visit Windsor regularly , upon invitation , and the Queen mentions date her once or twice in her daybook , as well as Sarah ’s daughter Victoria who was the Queen ’s godchild . " Rappaport emphasizes this point , and for good reason , as it is often misreported that Sarah was Queen Victoria ’s godchild , rather than Sarah ’s daughter , Victoria . " Sarah is said to have mold a friendly relationship with Princess Alice , the nance ’s 2nd daughter , but sadly there are no hold out letters or documents to corroborate this . I personally would have so like to establish this was the case . "
Queen Victoria record Sarah ’s 1867 sojourn to England in her journal , writing , " Saw Sally , now Mrs. Davies & her earnest little tiddler , far disastrous than herself , called Victoria & aged 4 , a lively intelligent child , with boastful somber eyes . " In 1880 , Sarah decease of tuberculosis at the age of 37 , on the twenty-four hour period Victoria had been expecting a sojourn from her godchild . The Queen wrote in her daybook of the missy , " I shall give her an annuity , " and she keep to pay up for her education at Cheltenham Ladies College from 1881 to 1883 .
" Sarah ’s story is clearly an inspiring and bear on one , but we have to be careful about induct it with greater significance after the result than it had at the time , " Rappaport pronounce . " She died at the eld of only 37 , and after her marriage in 1862 and her departure for Sierra Leone , she was never mention again in the British press . The fagot was tender of her , but bar the pass mention of Sarah and her daughter Victoria in her journals , Sarah did not figure in the queen ’s life and most biographies only make the most passing reference to her . Sarah sadly left no diary and only a few letters compose in the 1850s , so we do n’t make out her full side of the story . "
