White Mughals - Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India

James Achilles Kirkpatrick was the British representative at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad when, in 1798, he glimpsed a beautiful young Mughal princess, Khair un-Nissa - 'Most Excellent Among Women'. Falling in love with Khair, he converted to Islam and married her despite opposition from all sides. He also agreed to become a double agent, working for the Nizam against his employers, the East India Company. But Kirkpatrick's story was not unique. By his time one in three British men in India were living with Indian women, many taking on Indian ways, clothes, habits and even religions, crossing cultures to become `White Mughals'...