WEBVTT - The Royal Suffragette 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.400 Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:08.480 and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky listener discretion advised. 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:21.520 In February eighteen, Britain's Postal Service released a collection of 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:27.400 stamps commemorating the one hundred year anniversary of women's suffrage 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.760 in the United Kingdom, if the puffed sleeves and cinched 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:34.959 waists in the black and white photos on the stamps 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.680 weren't an obvious indicator as to when the photos were taken, 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:43.200 the sea of sashes and protest signs makes the context 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.960 pretty clear. But because the size of the stamps is 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.400 only a little bigger than an inch in either direction, 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:56.200 the captions below each photo are helpful at distinguishing specifically 0:00:56.400 --> 0:01:01.240 what and whom we're looking at. Once damp reads the 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:05.440 Great Pilgrimage of Suffragists, and it features a mass of 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:09.800 women standing shoulder to shoulder preparing to march in London 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:15.360 for their cause. Another is titled Women's Freedom League Poster Parade, 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.000 and it shows a procession of women holding signs. The 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:22.680 women are being led in their parade by a young girl, 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:26.399 most likely no older than twelve. I should say the 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:31.039 photos are all inspiring in a sort of non specific 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:37.160 pleasant way. They're mostly nameless women, respectfully holding signs and 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.000 gathering to assert their rights, and that makes sense when 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:45.560 thinking about how women suffrage is most often remembered. The 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:49.680 whole peaceful progress narrative just doesn't play as well next 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:54.240 to pictures of police brutality and the prison force feedings 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:58.560 that those women were forced to endure. Today, the women's 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:03.240 right to vote is so lively accepted as an indisputable 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.360 right that it's almost difficult to imagine the lengths to 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:12.520 which the government once fought against women's suffrage. Looking back 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:15.960 one hundred years to the past, I think we like 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:22.440 to imagine the fight as sanitized and simple, easy and inevitable, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.800 which makes the inclusion of the second to last photo 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:32.840 in the stamp collection all the more interesting. In that stamp, 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:37.440 a woman dressed in a floor length fur coat stands 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:42.320 on an empty sidewalk. A newspaper titled The Suffragette is 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:45.840 held up in her right hand, with the headline propped 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.640 up on a poster to her left. That headline is 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:56.200 just one word revolution. The stamps caption reads, Sophia do 0:02:56.400 --> 0:03:01.320 Leep Singh sells the Suffragette and while it's technically true. 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.480 It's enough to make you wonder in a collection of 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.480 photos of women gathered and masked, why is this single 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:13.760 woman recognized by name and given a stamp entirely her own? 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:18.720 Well For starters, the caption buries the lead before its 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.959 first word. The descriptor to this photo should read Princess 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:28.840 Sophia do leep singh sells The Suffragette and were character 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:33.240 count not a factor? The small caption might also include 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:37.760 the fact that the seemingly nondescript sidewalk that the princess 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:42.560 is standing on was actually outside the grounds of Hampton Court, 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.520 where she had been granted an apartment by her godmother, 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:54.160 Queen Victoria. Contrary to the caption, Princess Sophia's main goal 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:58.920 outside Hampton Court that day was not just selling newsprint, 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.640 at least east not the newspapers in her hand. Whether 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.120 or not she sold even a single copy of The 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.720 Suffragette that day, the princess knew that pictures of her 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:13.840 trying would soon be gracing the gossip pages of every 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:18.479 newspaper in London, and considering the fact that she's the 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:22.320 star of a women's suffrage publicity campaign a hundred years 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:26.880 after the fact. She was absolutely correct about the power 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:32.040 of her celebrity. But what I find especially satisfying about 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:35.960 Princess Sophia's stamp in the Royal Males collection is the 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:40.360 implication her presence there brings with it. The other stamps 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:47.359 show women protesting the quote unquote right way, peacefully marching, politely, 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:51.040 posing in sashes. Even the one photo of two women 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:55.560 being released from prison shows them smiling and waving from 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:59.919 a flower covered carriage. And then there is Princess Sophia 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:05.840 who is pictured selling newsprint advocating revolution. And it's a 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:11.760 newspaper from an organization which had very publicly attacked, like 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:18.120 actually attacked with very real bombs, the Crown and its policies. 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:22.880 And she's doing so on the steps just outside her 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:28.440 royal apartments given to her by her godmother, Queen Victoria. Now, 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:33.960 nothing about the image itself spells out anything especially controversial, 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:37.760 which makes it an ideal image for the Royal Male's 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.560 portrayal of women's suffrage. But if you know your history, 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:46.120 you know that Sophia and her association with the suffragette 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:51.239 movement was enough to have the Crown seething for retribution. 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:56.039 The Indian princess, whose nation had been stolen by the 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.400 very country she had no choice but to call home, 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:06.280 had the power to shake this supposedly superior government with 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:09.960 just a bag of printed paper and a sandwich board. 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:16.160 The revolution, as written across her poster, was coming, and 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:20.160 Princess Sophia du leep Singh was ready to meet those 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:25.160 who tried to stop it head on. The reason Princess 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.560 Sophia Duleep Singh, daughter of the last Maharajah of the 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:33.280 Sikh Empire and god daughter to Queen Victoria, stood holding 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.240 out a copy of The Suffragette is most likely the 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.880 same reason her image was specifically highlighted by the royal nail. 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:48.080 She was a true change maker, though from the outside 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.560 she may have given off the image of the demure 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:57.560 Indian princess quote unquote, her very existence was enough to 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:02.120 shake the British government to its core, a fact she 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:07.279 made sure to never let them forget. I'm Dana Schwartz 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:18.720 and this is noble blood. On a typical morning for 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:22.360 the dew Leep sing children, it was not uncommon to 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.760 stumble out of bed and glance out the window to 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.480 find one of their many servants chasing an exotic animal 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:34.880 over the dew laden lawns of elevated In Hall in Suffolk, Sussex, England. 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.080 The children's house may have lied on British soil, but 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:43.000 that had in no way stopped their father, Maharajah de 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:47.400 Leep Singh, from collecting a menagerie of wild animals from 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:51.600 his homeland and bringing them to their estate. Echoes of 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:56.160 India ran in abundance through eleviad In Hall, which under 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:00.640 the Maharajas order had been fully stripped, and Ramon to 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.600 emulate the stylings and culture he had been forbidden to 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:09.119 return to. Following the death of his father, the Lion 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:13.600 of Punjab, Ranjit Singh, and following the British East India 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:17.640 Company's annexation of the Punjab what we now consider to 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.920 be India and Pakistan, the then eleven year old Maharajah 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:26.239 was given little other choice than to emigrate to London. 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:30.880 Upon his arrival, Queen Victoria was quick to dote on him, 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.600 and of course by dote I mean anglicize away all 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:39.280 traces of his Indian identity and convert him to Christianity. 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:42.240 It wouldn't be until the young royal was married and 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:45.800 surrounded with children of his own, that he would stop 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:49.640 to reconsider everything he had been forced to leave behind. 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.960 After his sixteenth birthday, the Maharajah received a stipend of 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:59.120 twenty five thousand dollars a year, the equivalent of around 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:04.400 two point five million dollars today, which may seem exorbitant, 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.800 but in reality was a pittance compared to the amount 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.000 of well he would have had had he still been 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:15.240 ruling his own kingdom. Predictably, as the years passed, his 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:20.080 resentments towards the British Crown grew and his expenses began 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:24.120 to surpass the threshold of what the India Office was 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:28.199 willing to forgive. The upkeep for his exotic animal menagerie 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.439 alone wasn't cheap, and neither was the top down renovations 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:37.319 he had insisted upon at Elvidon Hall that, paired with 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.880 his unfortunate gambling habit, brought the de leep Singh family 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:47.880 to the brink of financial ruin. By eighteen five, Facing 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:53.520 bankruptcy and an irreparable reputation, the Maharajah told his family 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:58.240 to pack their bags. They were going home to India. 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.800 This was are from Duleep Singh's first attempt to return 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:07.439 to India, but with the near constant surveillance as well 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:12.160 as his monetary dependence on the British government, all previous 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:17.040 attempts had been stopped before they started. Considering the political 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.640 turmoil in the British Raj since the Maharaja's exile, it 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:26.439 was unsurprising that the British Crown was less than enthusiastic 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:30.600 about the idea of the son of India's beloved Lion 0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:35.640 of the Punjab returning to his homeland. As such, it 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:40.280 was equally unsurprising that, despite the secretive nature of their 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:44.800 attempted escape, the Maharajah and his family didn't make it 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:49.679 passed Egypt before they were stopped by British authorities. Ordered 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:53.679 to return to England at once. Do Leip Singh acquiesced 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.080 to sending his wife and children on a Britain bound ship, 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:02.080 but he refused to board it himself. Instead, he watched 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:05.240 from the docks as his family sailed back to the 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:09.439 country that had taken everything from him, and he himself 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:14.200 turned to board ship to France alone to start a 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:20.040 new life. Upon the Famili's returned to England, Dewleep Singh's 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:25.840 absence had Sophia's mother plummeting into a staggering depression, the 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.559 rest of the children clung on for any remaining semblance 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:34.720 of familial stability. Little more than a year later, eleven 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:39.959 year old Sophia contracted typhoid. Her mother sat vigil at 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.480 her bedside during the night, but when the doctors came 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.959 to check on the young Sophia the next morning, they 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:52.720 found her mother dead at her bedside. Doctors eventually concluded 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:57.880 that she went into renal failure. Her recent bout of alcoholism, 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:02.160 combined with the stress relating to her ailing daughter and 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:06.120 absentee husband, proved to be too much for her body 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:12.240 to handle. Regardless, Sophia and her siblings were now parentless 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:16.040 in a country that was never supposed to be their homeland. 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.720 The princess would go on to spend her formative years 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:25.720 in houses of British aristocracy until eighteen, when Queen Victoria 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.959 granted her and her sisters a Grace and Favor apartment 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:34.920 in Hampton Court in London. It was there Princess Sophia 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.720 would truly have her first taste of freedom from outside 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:41.880 the near constant surveillance that she had been kept under 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:46.040 since her mother died. After years of receiving a quote 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:51.640 unquote proper English education, culminating in a Britain ask debut 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:56.880 into society with the white gowns and ostrich feathers, Sophia 0:12:56.960 --> 0:13:00.560 took to her freedom with newfound vigor. Thanks to the 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:04.880 attention garnered by her debut, The Princess was a common 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:10.559 staple at London's most exclusive social gatherings, each host clamoring 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.360 to boast their connection to the young Indian royal. The 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:18.600 god daughter of Queen Victoria, She was often seen wearing 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:23.320 the newest fashions in the finest fabrics, the walking envy 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:27.120 of every British socialite, and when she wasn't the talk 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:31.439 of London's nightlife, Sophia still managed to grab headlines with 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:37.920 her ever expanding list of unorthodox hobbies, despite the rumors 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:42.360 associated with its ill effect on a woman's reproductive help. 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:48.120 Sophia became an avid cyclist, procuring the latest equipment and 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:53.240 often traversing the short distance between Hampton Court and Richmond Park, 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:59.280 while to the horror of many un chaperoned. She also 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.000 carried on her father's love of animals with her own 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.520 pack of show dogs that she took pride in breeding 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:11.000 for competitions at any time. The air in her home 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:16.240 was a chaotic blend of dog for and imported foreign tobacco, 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:19.840 which didn't take too long too great on the other 0:14:20.000 --> 0:14:25.760 two de leep sing daughters. Sophia's sisters, Bomba and Caroline, 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:30.440 were famously critical of their younger sister's fondness for her 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:35.840 small brood of animal companions, But despite Hampton Court technically 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:39.520 being their shared residence, the sisters never made a habit 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:43.640 of staying around long enough to call at home. Caroline 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:48.000 followed their former governess abroad to Germany, while Bomba traveled 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.200 to the United States to go to medical school in Chicago. 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:56.600 That was until Northwestern University decided women weren't fit to 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:02.600 study medicine, citing quote women men cannot grasp chemical laboratory 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:07.760 work or the intricacies of surgery. But considering this was 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:12.120 the same generation of scientists that believed a bicycle seat 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.640 would be detrimental to a woman's reproductive health, I think 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:20.200 it's safe to assume the scientific basis for their prejudice 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.320 may have had less to do with evidence and more 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:28.600 with a few fragile male egos. Regardless When Bamba do 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:33.240 Leap Sing reluctantly returned to Hampton Court, it was with 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.800 heaviness in her step. The event that had led her 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:40.680 back to Britain obviously weighed painfully on her mind, but 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.560 Sophia was intent on bringing her sister out of her slump. 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:49.080 Sophia may not have been old enough to fully understand 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.360 the extent of her mother's depression after their father had 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:57.000 abandoned them, but her sister Bomba's discontent was not something 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:00.280 she could stand to watch fester. The day is at 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.360 Hampton Court were leaching the life out of her sister, 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.920 and so Sophia said about achieving what their father had 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.680 never been able to do. She was going to bring 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.600 them back to India. In the end, she found that 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:18.560 it would be easier to ask forgiveness than permission. The 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:22.760 sisters told no one of their plans, and possibly even 0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:27.040 used false names to gain passage to the homeland they 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:32.200 had never known. When they finally arrived and Princess Sophia 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:36.000 descended the ship's steps and finally set her feet on 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:40.160 Indian soil for the first time in her life, she 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:44.720 had expected something to happen. She had at least expected 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:49.000 to be acknowledged, considering she and her sister had just 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:53.480 illegally gained passage to the one country on Earth she 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.560 and her family had been expressly forbidden to travel to 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:00.560 since before she was born. She expected some sort of 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:05.720 reprimand once the British authorities pieced together their whereabouts, But 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.680 when she stepped off the ship, the only thing to 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:13.480 meet her, along with the blistering Indian heat, was the 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:19.480 cool air of English indifference. The authorities had certainly taken 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.840 note of the princess's arrivals, but had opted to ignore 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:28.800 them and their disobedience altogether. This meant, rather than providing 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:32.040 a guide to the English speaking sisters, as would have 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:35.600 been customary for anyone else of their name and rank, 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.840 the deleep Singh princesses were now forced to embark on 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:44.160 their travels alone, and while the Crown may have felt 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:49.120 vindicated in their passive aggression, it unfortunately had the inverse 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:53.560 effect of exposing Sophia and her sisters to parts of 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:58.639 India that didn't necessarily look kindly upon British rule. For 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:02.200 the first time in her life, Sophia was welcomed into 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:08.040 rooms not as the quote exotic Indian princess, but as 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:12.720 the granddaughter of their beloved Raj Singh, the stairs in 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.760 her direction were not due to the color of her skin, 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:22.439 but the blood in her veins. Despite the language barrier, 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.119 Sophia took every moment she could to learn more about 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.920 her country and its history. It was during this first 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:33.240 trip to India that the princess learned of the poverty 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:37.040 and plague her people had been subjected to under British rule. 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:40.359 The version of history that she had been given in 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:44.679 the halls of a Buckinghamshire estate were wildly different from 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:47.400 what she was learning as she rode on horseback through 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:51.760 the Punjabi countryside. She was now determined to find out 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:57.120 the truth for herself. When Sophia eventually made her way 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:01.360 back to England, she found the extravagant gowns cluttering her 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.919 closet begging to be worn to the countless social events 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.720 no longer brought her the same joy they once had. 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.760 Even though she had been born and raised in England, 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.199 she had always known it was not her home, not really. 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.879 But it was one thing to understand that concept, and 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:26.119 another thing entirely to be so blatantly confronted with the 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.560 inequity and destruction that had trailed in the wake of 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:34.119 the British rule in her homeland, and even more infuriating 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:37.639 in theory. She was in a position of power, and 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.800 yet she found herself powerless to affect any meaningful change 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:45.440 for the people that she had met overseas. Pomp and 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:51.280 pageantry of her life suddenly felt so insignificant. She needed 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:55.680 to do something. It was with that fire that in 0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:00.440 h eight, Princess Sophia found herself walking into the home 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:04.520 of one Una Dugdale, a woman holding a meeting for 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:09.920 a group called the Women's Social and Political Union. Sophia 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:14.680 watched as the woman spoke her impassioned tone, boldly declaring 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:19.240 the necessity for progress in their country, for equal rights 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:25.119 and equal representation, for the women's right to vote. Una 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:29.280 described a movement of like minds, a group tired of 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:33.560 waiting for permission to take up space, and when Sophia 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:37.040 went home that night, for once, she didn't spare a 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.480 thought for the countless gowns that no longer fit the 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:44.560 person she had become. For the first time since her 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:49.960 return from India, Princess Sophia do Leep Singh felt that 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:57.399 she had found a home. Before we continue, I just 0:20:57.480 --> 0:20:59.600 want to make a quick note that from here on 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.360 out I'll be using the term suffragette rather than suffragist, 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:07.960 simply because that was how Sophia referred to herself, and 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.919 I think in telling her story, it's important to use 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.399 the language that she identified with. Now back to that story. 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:21.119 From that day forward, Sophia became a devout supporter of 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:26.560 the Women's Social and Political Union, or WSPU, throwing all 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:30.160 of her efforts into fundraising for the cause. It didn't 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:33.399 take long for the organization to take an interest in 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:37.920 the Royal Suffragette, and soon Emmiline Pankhurst was asking to 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:43.880 use Sophia's image strategically to promote their message. The princess 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:47.720 didn't have to think twice. Amidst the reports of hunger 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:51.720 strikes and subsequent force feedings coming out of the prisons, 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:55.119 Sophia was more than ready to be put on the 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:59.560 front lines. Though as excited as she was to show 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:03.680 her port for the w SPU, even she could not 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:07.359 have predicted the horror of what was to come. On 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:13.399 November eighth, the streets outside Caxton Hall were cold and 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:17.360 wet in the late autumn morning, As more and more 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:21.480 women gathered in the narrow street, the energy between them 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:26.560 crackled through the dreary London fog. Only a week before, 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:30.720 Pinkhurst had stood at the head of Albert Hall and 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:37.720 addressed her legion of supporters with grave news. The Conciliation Bill, 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:42.280 which the w SPU had been working on tirelessly for months, 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:46.399 was on the brink of failure after a letter leaked 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:50.960 from the Prime Minister outlining his intentions to quash the 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:55.960 bill before it could pass through Parliament. Quote if the bill, 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:59.360 in spite of our efforts, is killed by the government, 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.240 then first of all I have to say there is 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:08.360 an end of the truce. Pink Hurst's anger echoed through 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:11.240 the hall she was speaking at, and when she declared 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:14.280 her intention to beat down the doors to the House 0:23:14.359 --> 0:23:18.960 of Commons, the roar of the crowd support was deafening. 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:24.200 A week later, Sophia walked alongside pink Hurst at the 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:28.760 head of the three person strong procession to the House 0:23:28.840 --> 0:23:33.639 of Commons. Sophia was next to eight other women purposefully 0:23:33.760 --> 0:23:37.840 chosen to signify the face of the women's suffrage movement. 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:44.120 The morning's tension only grew as the protesters poured steadily 0:23:44.600 --> 0:23:49.440 into Parliament Square. Sophia continued to put one foot in 0:23:49.560 --> 0:23:52.600 front of the other, but it was difficult to ignore 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:56.440 the stairs of the police and civilian men who had 0:23:56.480 --> 0:24:06.720 been awaiting their arrival. Pankhurst's group managed to summit the 0:24:06.840 --> 0:24:11.240 steps to Saint Stephen's Gate, the last obstacle between them 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:15.200 and Parliament, But as Sophia turned to look back on 0:24:15.320 --> 0:24:19.680 her sisters and arms beside her, the cheers she thought 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:24.080 she heard suddenly sent chills of horror down her spine. 0:24:24.920 --> 0:24:29.040 By the time Big Ben struck twelve noon, all hell 0:24:29.200 --> 0:24:33.440 had broken loose. The events of this day would go 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:36.960 on to live in infamy under the name Black Friday, 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:41.520 a well deserved moniker for possibly one of the darkest 0:24:41.640 --> 0:24:46.000 days for the women's suffrage movement in Great Britain. For 0:24:46.160 --> 0:24:52.080 the following six hours, police would attack the suffragettes, throwing 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:56.200 them to the ground with excessive force and sexually assaulting 0:24:56.320 --> 0:24:59.200 those who had the nerve to stand back up. There 0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:05.400 were numerous reports of policemen and plainclothes officers groping women's breasts, 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:09.119 a practice which at the time was widely believed to 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:14.560 cause breast cancer. Others would recall being tossed between officers, 0:25:15.080 --> 0:25:19.440 having their clothes ripped and dislodged as they fought and 0:25:19.720 --> 0:25:24.720 clawed back in self defense. Meanwhile, at St. Stephen's Gate, 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:28.119 Sophia and her cohort were trapped by a line of 0:25:28.200 --> 0:25:33.119 policemen blocking their way back into the square. Pankhurst yelled 0:25:33.200 --> 0:25:36.080 herself horse in an attempt to get the police to 0:25:36.280 --> 0:25:39.840 rein in their men, while another woman in their party, 0:25:39.880 --> 0:25:43.600 who rode alongside them on horseback, took matters into her 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:47.359 own hands. She broke the line by riding her horse 0:25:47.480 --> 0:25:51.240 through the officers, taking down as many as she could 0:25:51.680 --> 0:25:56.399 with her riding crop. Sophia had just enough time to 0:25:56.560 --> 0:25:59.760 watch her friend be pulled from her horse before she 0:26:00.000 --> 0:26:02.960 managed to break through the line of police herself and 0:26:03.160 --> 0:26:07.879 run headfirst into the fray. The brutality from Afar had 0:26:07.960 --> 0:26:12.359 been horrifying, but once within the chaos, the reality was 0:26:12.560 --> 0:26:16.920 much more gruesome. She watched a woman near her bethrown 0:26:17.040 --> 0:26:20.880 to the ground by an officer multiple times, each blow 0:26:21.200 --> 0:26:23.680 making it more difficult for the woman to stay on 0:26:23.760 --> 0:26:27.320 her feet. When Sophia could no longer stand to watch, 0:26:27.840 --> 0:26:30.840 she pushed her way through the crowd and placed herself 0:26:31.040 --> 0:26:34.639 between the two, demanding that the police officer stop his 0:26:34.760 --> 0:26:39.160 abuse immediately. Now it should be noted that it barely 0:26:39.280 --> 0:26:44.080 taller than five ft. The princess was hardly an imposing figure, 0:26:44.760 --> 0:26:47.440 but when the officer finally stopped to take in who 0:26:47.640 --> 0:26:51.399 had stopped him, he didn't think twice before running in 0:26:51.520 --> 0:26:56.119 the opposite direction. Princess Sophia's face was a staple in 0:26:56.320 --> 0:26:59.240 all the London papers, and even if she was not 0:26:59.400 --> 0:27:04.600 the most physically intimidating figure, her social status alone was 0:27:04.800 --> 0:27:08.120 enough to make the power that the police officer flaunted 0:27:08.280 --> 0:27:13.919 so gratuitously just moments earlier wither away into dust after 0:27:14.240 --> 0:27:18.760 she had gotten his badge number. He was Constable V 0:27:19.280 --> 0:27:26.080 seven hundred. Unfortunately, despite Sophia's quick thinking, Constable V seven 0:27:26.200 --> 0:27:29.840 hundred would not be charged with any sort of crime 0:27:29.960 --> 0:27:33.920 for the atrocities committed on Black Friday, nor would any 0:27:34.040 --> 0:27:38.640 of the officers responsible for the Wanton bloodshed. The Home 0:27:38.760 --> 0:27:43.800 Secretary at the time, a relatively young Winston Churchill, issued 0:27:43.840 --> 0:27:46.560 a statement saying that they would not be charging the 0:27:46.680 --> 0:27:50.399 officers with any offenses which may have taken place, since 0:27:50.480 --> 0:27:54.840 all charges against those suffragettes arrested that day had also 0:27:54.960 --> 0:27:58.879 been dropped, as if that evened the score. For weeks 0:27:59.000 --> 0:28:02.320 following the event, Sophia wrote to the Office of the 0:28:02.400 --> 0:28:08.320 Home Secretary, citing specific events she witnessed and demanding justice 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:13.400 be handed down. Eventually, Churchill got so tired of receiving 0:28:13.520 --> 0:28:16.840 mail from the princess that he had his office flag 0:28:17.040 --> 0:28:20.359 her name so no further postage from her would make 0:28:20.400 --> 0:28:24.359 its way to her desk, as if she could be ignored. 0:28:32.880 --> 0:28:37.000 After the events of Black Friday, the Princess's involvement in 0:28:37.080 --> 0:28:43.000 the WSPU only continued to grow. The following February, on 0:28:43.080 --> 0:28:45.280 the day the King was said to make a speech 0:28:45.360 --> 0:28:50.400 to Parliament, Sophia participated in a coordinated protest where she 0:28:50.600 --> 0:28:53.560 jumped in front of the Prime Minister's car holding a 0:28:53.680 --> 0:28:58.080 banner which read give women the Vote. After being hauled 0:28:58.120 --> 0:29:02.400 away by police, the authority parties contemplated taking further action 0:29:02.480 --> 0:29:06.840 against the princess, but they ultimately decided against it. The 0:29:06.960 --> 0:29:09.360 King's speech was meant to be the story in the 0:29:09.440 --> 0:29:13.400 papers the following day, not the arrest of Queen Victoria's 0:29:13.440 --> 0:29:17.040 god daughter, and so much to the chagrin of the 0:29:17.120 --> 0:29:22.239 Prime Minister, the princess was allowed to walk free. By 0:29:22.320 --> 0:29:25.440 this point, the British government was more than ready to 0:29:25.640 --> 0:29:30.040 reprimand the royal pain in their sides, but prison time 0:29:30.120 --> 0:29:34.160 for the princess remained out of the question. The reports 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:38.000 of force feedings and abuse within the prison system would 0:29:38.000 --> 0:29:40.840 have only acted to make the Princess a murtyr, something 0:29:40.960 --> 0:29:44.240 the Crown could not afford in their ongoing fight against 0:29:44.320 --> 0:29:48.960 the suffrage movement. Instead, they chose to punish her through 0:29:49.040 --> 0:29:54.440 the most public legal channel they possessed. After years of 0:29:54.560 --> 0:29:59.520 participating in public protests and proudly defying the government in 0:29:59.600 --> 0:30:04.960