Anand Anita - Sophia: princess, suffragette, revolutionary

I have had so much help from so many wonderful people, this may take some time. Brace yourselves!

Drovna Oxley and Shirley Phimister (ne Sarbutt) are living links to Sophia Duleep Singh. Both knew her and loved her tremendously. They have given me access to their personal archives, and endless cake and hospitality. I am very proud to count these extraordinary women as my friends. Ladies, I hope I did well by your princess.

I was given fantastic insight into the workings of Faraday House by Lillian Coram, who worked as a maid for Sophia, and also Robert Kybird, former mayor of Thetford and present chairman of Breckland District Council. His ancestors include James Mayes (head gamekeeper at Elveden), Margaret Mayes (former housekeeper at Faraday House) and Ethel and Maggie Snell (ladies maids with whom the princess maintained a friendship long after they left her service).

I am also indebted to Ned Guinness, Earl of Iveagh, who kindly opened the doors of Elveden to me. He facilitated a rare and valuable glimpse of the Maharajahs Suffolk palace. He also was good enough to show me the grounds and share some of his familys memories of the Duleep Singhs. Thanks also to his personal assistant Melanie Shuttler, who endured daft queries and even went around the old hall with a measuring tape for me.

The historian and author Peter Bance has been a superstar, nothing less. He has a collection of Duleep Singh family papers and ephemera second to none and has shared his time, expertise and treasures with me. Some of the finest images in this book are drawn from his extensive archive. I urge anyone interested in further study to read his books. His wife Satnam kept us fed and watered with the forbearance of a saint while we spent hours poring over documents and photographs. Thank you both: you may now have your lives back!

I am very grateful to Oliver Bone and his staff at the Ancient House Museum in Thetford. I spent happy hours trawling through their extensive archive. Beverly Cook of the Museum of Londons Suffragette Collection has also been supremely supportive, always on hand to answer a question or dig out a reference. She was there to share a special moment when I found Sophia peering out of that Black Friday photograph you see in the book. I would also like to thank Ian Franklin at Hampton Court Palace, particularly for pointing me towards the most useful archive material on grace-and-favour homes and their residents.

Amandeep Madra has done so much to educate young British Sikhs about their heritage. He also offered his unstinting help to me right from the start of my research. Poor Amandeep made the mistake of accepting my friendship on a social network. I can only imagine how his heart must have soared as his computer went ping for the four-millionth time with yet another fascinating question. Thanks, Aman, for never throwing your keyboard out of the window.

Dr Jeevan Deol is a leading expert on Indian history who has taught at SOAS, Oxford and Cambridge. I am privileged to call him a friend and extremely lucky to have been able to draw on his great wealth of knowledge. He has been a generous guide and source of encouragement. Not only that, but he also brought much missing punctuation to the party. I shall never look at a semicolon with suspicion again.

Even before I met the eminent historian Rozina Visram, I was in awe of her work. She has led the field in the study of the Indian diaspora in the UK. Her scholarly works include Ayahs, Lascars and Princes invaluable and her seminal Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History had a great impact on me. She is also a jolly lovely woman who shared her research and experience with an open hand and heart.

Dr Florian Stadtler has published articles and essays on South Asian and British Asian history and literature. He was also my cake-buddy at the British Library. Thanks, Florian, for patiently showing me the ropes. I am also grateful to Penny Brook and Xiao Wei Bond from the Asia Pacific and Africa Collections of the British Library. They have been supremely helpful, allowing me to hold and read Sophias original documents and diary in my hands.

Thanks also to Dr Mari Takayanagi, Head of Preservation and Access at the Parliamentary Archives. She has been fantastic at replying to particularly vexing questions thrown up by Hansard. Because of her, I had a thrilling time wandering the vaults deep under Parliament, filled with old scrolls of parchment recording British legislation spanning centuries. For a political journalist it was almost too exciting for words. Alison Derrett of the Royal Archives has also been wonderfully efficient in finding documents and checking references.

Christy Campbell, author of The Maharajahs Box , is not just a great author, but a fabulous raconteur generous with advice. More importantly, he got as excited as I did when I shared new discoveries. For this book I needed to recreate Lahore at the turn of the last century. To that end I must thank historian and former principal of Aitchison College, Fakir Syed Aijazuddin. His writings and guidance were invaluable.

I am also indebted to two friends who have known me for ever and who I love to their brilliant bones. One is Gul Afridi, who not only fact-checked for me in Pakistan but has also been a source of encouragement throughout this process. The other is Sadhana Natali Khan, who read my work in progress and has been an effusive and reassuring presence throughout. Love you girls you give meaning to the sisterhood. Also I would like to remember my friend Boo Armstrong, who is no longer with us. She, more than anybody I know, embodied the suffragette fighting spirit.

I have been lucky to have some extraordinary viragos in my life. They have shown me what it is to walk to the beat of your own drum: my old teacher Sister Francesca; trailblazing politician Baroness Shreela Flather; firebrand journalist Yasmin Alibhai Brown; and my beloved Maria Birbeck naughty godmother, deeply missed. Bloody-minded women all in the most spectacular, beautiful way.

Dr Antoine Sayer has been an amazing help. There are few GPs who would have approached boring and recurring RSI with such good humour and kindness. Fewer still who would have prescribed software for my computer and gone home to fetch his own mouse because mine was stupid and evil. Thanks Doc I quite literally could not have typed this without you.

Bloomsbury people are the best people. I have been blessed with loveliness thanks to my editor Alexandra Pringle a publishing legend elegance personified sparkling and hilarious company. As soon as I met her I knew Sophia was in the best hands. Enormous thanks to Anna Simpson, Kate Johnson, Laura Brooke, Helen Flood and Vicky Beddow also of Bloomsbury. They have given amazing support, wise counsel and just made the whole experience fun. They also had names I could spell unlike Alexandras exotically named angels, Alexa von Hirschberg, Ianthe Cox-Willmott and Angelique Tran Van Sang. Thanks ladies you were very helpful but you did give my spellcheck a nervous breakdown.

To my agent, Patrick Walsh, there really are not enough words under gratitude in the thesaurus. You are smart, calm, funny and kind. In short, you rock! I hope you know it.

To my family, Bully, Anup, Christina and the teenies Mouse and I-man: you have been boundless in your love, patience and understanding. A first book is scary. You have kept me level, you have kept me laughing.

To my mother Shashi Anand Mum without you this book just would never have been written. You have looked after Hari and the rest of us when my head has been stuck in a deadline. You never let me down. This book is supposed to be about strong women. I know few who are stronger than you. Thank you seems an inadequate phrase. And to my father I know youre not here to see this but I bet youd get a kick out of it. These are the times I miss you most.