Emperor of India
Emperor or Empress of India are translations performed as ruler of British India into the German title of Emperor of India or Empress of India, the British monarch. The term, both in English and in German is, however (for example, as a translation of Samrat from Sanskrit ), also used for local emperor.
History
Already in the course of 1857, Bahadur Shah Sepoyaufstandes II, the last Mughal emperor of India, proclaimed Emperor of India, but discontinued shortly thereafter by the British.
On May 1, 1876 Queen Victoria of Great Britain took the title of Empress of India - the proclamation took effect on 1 January 1877 in Delhi - and documented the fact that India had become part of the British Empire. The Empire India included present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The Queen Victoria subsequent British kings until the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947 in personal union with Great Britain, Emperor of India, which is also, for example, by the inscription Ind. Imp ( Imperatrix Indiae or Imperator Indiae ) or RI (Regina Imperatrix or Rex Imperator ) on British coins was expressed. Often the Persian form Kaisar -i - Hind was used - Persian was the language of administration in the Mughal Empire was.
The title was introduced at the behest of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. As a result of the establishment of the German Empire and the position of the Russian Tsar and the Austrian Emperor of the British royal title should be equal. In addition, they wanted to give the ( since 1857 direct ) British rule a kind of legal basis by anknüpfte least of the titulary forth to the Mogul rule. The East India Company had prevailed even in the name of the Mughal emperor in form.
Only one of the British kings who bore the title of Emperor of India, was actually crowned emperor in India, namely George V on December 12, 1911 in Delhi.
From the partition of India (1947 ) into two states, the secular Union of India and the smaller Islamic Republic of Pakistan, to January 26, 1950, when India became Republic, the British monarch was head of state on the Indian Dominion. Until 1956 he was a king of Pakistan also head of state of Pakistan, the Republic was in that year.
List of Emperors of India
Mughal Empire (1526-1858)
- Bahadur Shah II ( May 1857-September 1857 )
British India (1858-1947)
- Victoria (May 1, 1876 / January 1, 1877 to 22 January 1901)
- Edward VII ( January 22, 1901 to 6 May 1910)
- George V (May 6, 1910 to January 20, 1936 )
- Edward VIII (January 20, 1936 to December 11, 1936 )
- George VI. (December 11, 1936 to August 15, 1947 )
Independent India as Dominion (1947-1950)
- George VI. (August 15, 1947 to January 26, 1950 )