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The Guardian - UK

World

Chris Osuh Community affairs correspondent

An extraordinary life: descendant welcomes biography of woman ‘gifted’ to Queen Victoria

Aina Ghezo England Dahomey

Sarah Forbes Bonetta sits in a Victorian dress, hands folded, beside a draped table — Sarah Forbes Bonetta was brought to England by Frederick Forbes, of the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron. Photograph: William Bambridge (1819-79)/Royal Collection Trust

When she was seven years old, Bayo Randle’s great-great-grandmother Sarah Forbes Bonetta was presented to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle as a “diplomatic gift” from an African king.

Victoria would go on to pay for Bonetta’s education, approve her marriage to one of west Africa’s wealthiest men, and become godmother to her eldest daughter.

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