"So Strange, Novel and Fascinating": Margaret Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak

Abstract

It was September 1873. The present Rajah, Charles Brooke, and his young Ranee, Margaret, were making their first return visit to England with their children, a girl, Ghita, aged two and a half, and twin baby boys, James and Charles. The omens had been good for their departure, dispelling the muttering in the bazaar and kampong that twins were unlucky, especially since two months before their birth there had been an eclipse of the sun. Nothing, however, could dispel the unease caused by the new English nurse, who was seen to be cross-eyed. Later it became known that the native amah had stolen and brought on board some small idol, and, so it was said, put a curse on the Ranee and her family.