11 photos show how Prince Harry's relationship with Prince Charles has changed over time

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Duchess of Sussex's essay about <a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-says-she-had-a-miscarriage-earlier-this-year-2020-11">experiencing a miscarriage</a> earlier this year has sparked a debate online about the way society deals with the subject. </li><li><keyword id="2959098" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Meghan-Markle">Meghan Markle</keyword> was pregnant with her second child when she had a <keyword id="33680" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="miscarriage">miscarriage</keyword> in July, and she wrote about the experience in an op-ed for the New York Times.</li><li>The duchess has received praise both from women who have gone through miscarriage and others who have watched love ones experience it. </li><li>"There is so much secrecy around baby loss and this leaves women without support during a significantly traumatic time. Talking about her loss will help many other women," <a href="https://twitter.com/RedRosie11/status/1331549989001170945">one person wrote on Twitter.</a></li></ul><a href="https://www.insider.com/category/meghan-markle">The Duchess of Sussex</a> published a powerful essay in the New York Times on Wednesday, where she revealed <a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-says-she-had-a-miscarriage-earlier-this-year-2020-11">she had a miscarriage in July.</a>Meghan Markle experienced the miscarriage when she was pregnant with her second child in July, although the public weren't aware that she was expecting at the time.She described changing her son Archie Harrison's diaper one morning when she experienced a "sharp cramp" and knew something was wrong. At the hospital later that day, her fears were proven to be correct.The duchess wrote: "After changing his diaper, I felt a sharp cramp. I dropped to the floor with him in my arms, humming a lullaby to keep us both calm, the cheerful tune a stark contrast to my sense that something was not right. I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.""Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband's hand. I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we'd heal," she added.The duchess' words have sparked a conversation about miscarriage on social media, with many people now sharing their own stories after being inspired by the duchess' essay. Anita Singh, an arts and entertainment editor at the Daily Telegraph, <a href="https://twitter.com/anitathetweeter/status/1331528205048705024">wrote on Twitter</a>: "When I had a miscarriage, I remember scouring the internet for articles by women who had been through the same thing. Because reading that you're not alone is helpful and it's comforting. So thank you to Meghan Markle for writing about something so difficult."<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Anita Singh (@anitathetweeter) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1331528205048705024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2020</a></blockquote>"As someone who suffered a #miscarriage myself, I am so proud to see #Meghan Markle sharing her experience. There is so much secrecy around baby loss and this leaves women without support during a significantly traumatic time. Talking about her loss will help many other women," <a href="https://twitter.com/RedRosie11/status/1331549989001170945">another woman wrote on Twitter.</a>Many people — including those who have not experienced miscarriage themselves — thanked the duchess for sharing her story and shedding light on the subject. Actress Anna Morris <a href="https://twitter.com/annamorriscomic/status/1331593080802197506">wrote on Twitter</a>: "Glad Meghan Markle has shared her #miscarriage story. I hope it helps other women in a similar position know they are not alone. I have many friends who have described this 'unbearable grief' too and her interview helps me to understand their feelings."<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Anna Morris (@annamorriscomic) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1331593080802197506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2020</a></blockquote>Matt Haig, a British author and mental health activist, said watching his wife lose their unborn baby two years ago was "so traumatic" and "a strange taboo."<blockquote class="twitter-tweet blockquote" data-lang="en" data-cards="" data-conversation="">—Matt Haig (@matthaig1) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1331536465407438851?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2020</a></blockquote>"My wife went through a miscarriage two years ago. We were in Australia and felt alone. It was so traumatic. To grieve a future that wasn't there. It also felt difficult to talk about. A strange taboo. It is so healthy and healing when anyone talks about this topic so openly," <a href="https://twitter.com/matthaig1/status/1331536465407438851">Haig wrote on Twitter.</a>Representatives for the Duchess of Sussex declined to comment when contacted by Insider.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-says-she-had-a-miscarriage-earlier-this-year-2020-11">Meghan Markle says she had a miscarriage during her 2nd pregnancy earlier this year</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-memory-africa-tour-interview-helped-miscarriage-2020-11">Meghan Markle says the memory of her emotional TV interview from last year helped her get through a miscarriage</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-encouraging-women-in-politics-step-back-2020-11">Meghan Markle is encouraging women to get involved with politics — but she had to step back from royal life for her own voice to be heard</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/princess-michael-of-kent-tested-positive-for-covid-19-2020-11">Princess Michael of Kent has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating at Kensington Palace</a></li></ul>

Meghan Markle's powerful essay about her miscarriage is inspiring people from around the world to share their own stories

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Duchess of Sussex said she felt "unprotected by the institution" during her time as a working member of the <keyword id="72980" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="royal-family">royal family</keyword>.</li><li>In new court documents filed by <keyword id="2959098" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Meghan-Markle">Meghan Markle</keyword>'s legal team for her court case against the Mail on Sunday, the duchess appeared to criticize the Kensington Palace communications team for prohibiting her "from defending herself" against the press.</li><li>She added that Kensington Palace would respond with "no comment" when approached with inquiries from the press, rather than to ask Markle for a response herself.</li><li>Markle is <a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-lawsuit-mail-on-sunday-prince-harry-statement-2019-10">taking legal action</a> after the newspaper published excerpts from a letter she wrote to her father shortly after the royal wedding. </li><li>Kensington Palace declined to comment when contacted by Insider.</li></ul><a href="https://www.insider.com/category/meghan-markle">Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex</a> said she felt "unprotected" from the media scrutiny she faced when she was a working member of the royal family.In a new court document filed as part of her legal battle against the Mail on Sunday, Meghan Markle's lawyers appeared to criticize Kensington Palace, and implied that they did nothing to assist the duchess during a time of "tremendous emotional distress.""The Claimant had become the subject of a large number of false and damaging articles by the UK tabloid media, specifically by the Defendant, which caused tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health," a legal spokesperson for the duchess said in the document, obtained by Insider."As her friends had never seen her in this state before, they were rightly concerned for her welfare, specifically as she was pregnant, unprotected by the Institution, and prohibited from defending herself," they added.Markle is taking <a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-lawsuit-mail-on-sunday-prince-harry-statement-2019-10">legal action against the Mail on Sunday</a> over the misuse of private information, infringement of copyright, and breach of the Data Protection Act 2018 after it published excerpts of a letter she wrote to her father shortly after the royal wedding. She received criticism for pursuing the lawsuit, since a friend already mentioned the letter in an anonymous interview with People Magazine before it was ever made public.The tabloids have accused the duchess of <a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-mail-on-sunday-lawsuit-letter-thomas-markle-people-2019-10">"invading her own privacy"</a> — but Markle denies knowing about her friend's interview with People.In the court document, Markle's lawyers argue that she would have said this on the record, however she wasn't given the opportunity to do so by her press team."The stance of 'no comment' was taken by the KP Communications Team without any discussion with or approval by the Claimant, as is standard practice for Royal communications," the duchess' spokesperson said.They went on to say that if Markle had "been asked or been given the opportunity to participate, she would have asked the KP Communications Team to say on the record that she had not been involved with the People magazine article, as she had not been."Kensington Palace declined to comment when contacted by Insider.Read more:<a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-lawsuit-mail-on-sunday-prince-harry-statement-2019-10">Meghan Markle's lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday could change how the tabloids treat the royal family</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/meghan-markle-suing-british-tabloids-court-papers-stories-taxpayers-money-2019-11">Meghan Markle is accusing British tabloids of making up 'untrue' stories about her, including expensive home renovations with taxpayers' money</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/mail-on-sunday-defense-against-meghan-markle-lawsuit-court-documents-2020-1">The Mail on Sunday claims Meghan Markle knew her letter to her father would be leaked because of her 'elaborate handwriting'</a><a href="https://www.insider.com/british-press-destroyed-meghan-markle-thomas-markle-relationship-2020-4">How the British press destroyed Meghan Markle's relationship with her father Thomas Markle before she was even part of the royal family</a>

Meghan Markle says she was 'unprotected' by the royal family, and that she wasn't allowed to defend herself against the press

<ul class="summary-list"><li>GOP operatives trained by ex-spies embedded themselves in Democratic operations across the West, NYT reported.</li><li>The operation was spearheaded by a hardline Trump ally and a former British spy.</li><li>It highlights the GOP's push to dominate national <keyword id="6358883" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="politics">politics</keyword> by taking over at the state and local level.</li></ul>An ultrawealthy Republican donor and a former British spy spearheaded an effort to train GOP operatives to go undercover and infiltrate liberal organizations, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/us/politics/spies-conservatives-left-political-enemies.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times reported Friday</a>.The donor, <keyword id="4323281" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Erik-Prince">Erik Prince</keyword>, is a hardline Trump supporter who founded the private military contractor Blackwater, now known as Academi. Prince worked with a former British spy, <keyword id="1722998" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Richard-Seddon">Richard Seddon</keyword>, on a conservative operation to "infiltrate progressive groups, political campaigns and the offices of Democratic as well as moderate Republican elected officials during the <keyword id="7600569" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="2020-election">2020 election</keyword> cycle," The Times reported, citing extensive interviews and documents.The outlet reported that Prince first recruited Seddon at the beginning of the Trump administration and asked him to hire ex-spies to train Republican operatives in the art of political sabotage on his Wyoming ranch, adding a new layer to the term "<a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/01/25/roger-stone-and-rating-a-short-history-224218/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ratf---ing</a>."Two of the undercover operatives were Beau Maier and Sofia LaRocca. They embedded themselves in the Democratic operation in Wyoming, and targeted both progressives and moderate Republicans they believed were a threat to the Trump administration. According to The Times, Maier and LaRocca were based in Wyoming but ingratiated themselves in Democratic politics in Arizona and Colorado as well. Neither Maier nor LaRocca responded to the NYT's requests for comment.And in retrospect, many of the personal details LaRocca offered to her new friends in Wyoming politics didn't add up: she claimed that she had to live in Colorado and not Wyoming because of her dog, and that she went under a fake name because of a stalker but changed it back because the police told her the stalker had "reformed."The outlet reported that Seddon secured financial backing from Susan Gore, the wealthy Gore-Tex heiress, by the end of 2018 and began recruiting operatives from the right-wing group Project Veritas. The organization frequently traffics in <a href="https://www.theverge.com/interface/2019/6/27/18760463/project-veritas-youtube-sting-james-okeefe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">misinformation</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/29/project-veritas-how-fake-news-prize-went-to-rightwing-group-beloved-by-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">propaganda</a> and is known for <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nedd9w/five-times-james-okeefe-embarrassed-himself-trying-to-out-liberal-bias" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deceptively editing videos</a> as part of its <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/a-woman-approached-the-post-with-dramatic--and-false--tale-about-roy-moore-sje-appears-to-be-part-of-undercover-sting-operation/2017/11/27/0c2e335a-cfb6-11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sting operations</a> against mainstream-media outlets; its CEO, James O'Keefe, defended the group's work in a previous statement to Insider, saying that "not a single one of our videos has been deceptively edited or taken out of context."One of the targets of the undercover GOP operation was the progressive group Better Wyoming. The head of the group, Nate Martin, told The Times that he believed the operation's goal was to "dig up this information and you sit on it until you really can destroy somebody."After becoming deeply enmeshed with the Democratic party infrastructure in Wyoming, Maier and LaRocca got their feet in the door to a higher level of Democratic politics with sudden, substantial contributions to other western Democratic candidates like Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, raising questions about the duo's campaign finance activities."Sometimes when you're looking at patterns of contributions, you start to see people with relatively limited resources making sizable political contributions," Brendan Fischer, director of the federal reform program at the Campaign Legal Center told The Times. "That can be a red flag."George Durazzo Jr., a Democratic fundraiser in Colorado who secured sizable donations from Maier and LaRocca, was outraged when The Times told him of the two operatives' true goal."If they are indeed Benedict Arnold and Mata Hari, I was the one who was fooled," he said.The extent of Prince and Seddon's effort underscores the Republican Party's push to dominate national politics by taking over at the state and local level. Indeed, since the 2020 election and Trump's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doj-officials-mark-meadows-italy-conspiracy-theory-pure-insanity-emails-2021-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">failed efforts</a> to nullify Joe Biden's legitimate victory, Republican state legislatures across the country have passed <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/06/14-gop-controlled-states-have-passed-laws-to-impede-free-elections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a slew of laws</a> that would not only make it more difficult for voters to cast ballots, but also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-likely-wont-take-action-on-gop-election-subversion-2021-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make it easier</a> for partisan forces to control and potentially overturn states' election results.<h3><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/us/politics/spies-conservatives-left-political-enemies.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read The Times' full report here</a></h3>

Undercover GOP operatives trained by former spies infiltrated liberal groups to try and compromise them from the inside, report says

<ul><li><keyword id="6365313" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="East-India-Company" source="Orion">East India Company</keyword> is the world’s first company to issue equity shares – kickstarted a reign of evil in India.</li><li><keyword id="236128" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="louis-mountbatten" source="Orion">Louis Mountbatten</keyword>, the last viceroy of India, came to ensure smooth transfer of power from the crown to India.</li><li>His predecessor hands him over a job which has been nicknamed ‘<keyword id="14706171" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Operation-Madhouse" source="Orion">Operation Madhouse</keyword>’.</li></ul>Prologue: The history of the British Raj in India is so vast and so full of life that no movie – be it the action-heavy RRR, a gamified Lagaan or even the many passionate Bhagat Singh movies – could scratch the surface of it. But an American and a Frenchman paired up to achieve this in their book ‘Freedom at Midnight’. It’s the story of India that many Indians know little about. For years, I have regaled many with the unbelievable anecdotes from the book, which is soon to be made into a web series. As we complete 75 years of independence, I believe a brief summary of this epic is in order for we all need to know the history of how we got here today, breathing free in a country we can call our own. A century and a half after Vasco da Gama discovered India, most of Europe had given up bland meals, and now pepper mills are on every dinner table. But India remained a free country only until the 1600s. That’s when Dutch traders decided to raise the rates of a pound of pepper by five shillings — a move that made a cartel of Englishmen receive an official sanction from Queen Elizabeth I to exclusively trade in all countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope. The company, called East India Company (EIC), also the world’s first company to issue equity shares – kickstarted a reign of evil, by a race which believed was ‘destined to govern and subdue’, according to Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre’s classic Freedom at Midnight. <img src="https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/53NU6qcsiVy9w2RUUhBdxn5fU0m4flIIDHzw3b-7yx4rPzfqHa4yhL7cixBLIcit3Ie6opO8_nESx0xhK3QTiuu6ORa_C_i6Vu38ROwPZdUF7G1HFzJNRl_tQhMYvVrFfgzkwlLoaPeDKSUTVAU68DCjP-HhUzhRU7je9Q=s0-d-e1-ft#https://www.businessinsider.in/thumb/msid-93508039,width-800,height-640,resizemode-75/93508039/Master.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" /> Freedom At Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre Amazon.com The wolf of this yet to be formed Wall Street was Captain William Hawkins, a seaman who was more of a pirate than an explorer. He soon found himself in the court of Jahangir, in an empire so vast and wealthy that his own Queen would have appeared to be the ruler of a provincial hamlet in contrast. Queen, Kipling and memsahibs EIC’s coffers filled but India, with its numerous territories and squabbles, would not let him hold on to their policy of ‘trade not territory’. But white supremacy is to prevail amongst ‘lesser breeds without law’ as Jungle Book writer Rudyard Kipling puts it. Even the British born writer believed that the right to rule Indians was placed on British soldiers by “the inscrutable decree of the providence”. The British shouldered it and region after region was lured by treasures if not treachery, weak and powerful kings won with weak enemies. The great Maratha Shivaji himself was known to have admired the British who fought for their honour, as he laid siege on Surat. Droves of young English men arrived in this strange land – with men in sagging dhotis and bare-armed women in sarees, and travelled the length and breadth of the country into villages with rations and letters that proclaimed their rights. And, they were all taught one principle - The English ran the country but they dwell apart. Memsahibs in India started running a very large version of Downton Abbey – with dinner parties that boasted of a servant per guest. They also set the tone for the Victorian era social seclusion – probably to keep their men away from the exotic temptations of the state. But it also made the British much different from many rulers that made India their home. Also, they were sending away taxes they collected from them back to the crown, as Indians starved. The British in India lived it up, served by coolies, and none were ‘better than Gunga Din’, a poetic character that saves an Englishman. They hunted tigers and killed ‘almost all’ cheetahs, the smallest of the big cats - which are now extinct in India, thanks to the Raj. They were having champagne in silver buckets and golfing, in style – golf arrived in India 30 years before New York. They also built the world’s highest golf course at 11,000 feet on the Himalayas. Almost a century after India became a British colony directly under the Queen’s rule, after the devastating Second World War, the country’s parliament voted to ‘leave the country’. George VI was sad that he had let go of a country he always wanted to visit but couldn’t. To ensure there was a smooth transfer of power that didn't lead to anarchy, he chose his handsome cousin, who was known as much for his charm as his military prowess. The former trait would serve Louis Mountbatten more than the latter, as he became the lord and the last viceroy of India, as he took over what his predecessor called, ‘Operation Madhouse’. <img src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/lL4pFU6Nf_3PcQgpQAsqQEcqD0_ufyxjUhiTNKW0b9Z5uxoA_PFupPeRzrLu2wdqs4kYRmqC7ROEtNSW0W43MG9Hy-SEtIUZwJHNCmmh5vO8s1xAmEB_9qk_DhPaif3NlwAuR0WqSxojhUjgPwbSaMOlOgRNsUs6T13LRQ=s0-d-e1-ft#https://www.businessinsider.in/thumb/msid-93508078,width-800,height-640,resizemode-75/93508078/Master.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" />Louis MountbattenWikimedia commons The new-age Buddha and Christ Elsewhere in another continent and another British colony, a young lawyer who was an utter failure in Bombay, landed in South Africa and to his own surprise found success. He profusely read Henry Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy and the Gujarati brain of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was working in wonderful ways. <img src="https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/-U77BNJ0qUHEb4kmr4T5g6bNCclVNUuOXCrGkzxqXudrDcqaDPrgZL8gW_lHCKxqi2jCOoaGYaStRbJjT_MRh-BAMSbEbpzW8DJQulzVFmLg1F_8528W48Og5PvdGVg0OGo5SZE421vG-PjOQ60qcjFe-1TkteiVWCmDaQ=s0-d-e1-ft#https://www.businessinsider.in/thumb/msid-93508085,width-800,height-640,resizemode-75/93508085/Master.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" />Mohandas Karamchand GandhiBCCLWhen the British government irked him by closing Transvaal borders to India, he led a movement of Thoreau’s civil disobedience with over 2,000 people that included women and children. He added his own twist – non-violence and he brought it back to India. Now called Gandhigiri, his principles continue to inspire generations across continents. The man who took a vow of poverty, had held on to his Ingersoll watch for years until it was stolen when he was travelling in a train. He was moved to tears as he told this story with child-like pain to Lord Mountbatten, but his loss was short-lived. The man who stole it, returned it and begged his forgiveness – which was given with a hug and a chuckle. Gandhigiri had taken over India at the time of Mountbatten’s arrival. Mountbatten knew that this man who Winston Churchill sneered at, ‘as a half-naked fakir’ was not to be taken lightly. After all, Gandhi had already sent back Sir Richard Cripps without a deal, refusing UK’s offer during the war to rule India as a British dominion. Goat curd and surgical precision Mountbatten called it Operation Seduction and while he forged a great friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi was another soul altogether. He insisted on eating his own goat curd at the Viceroy House, took prayer breaks and insisted that India should remain one – keep the baby alive instead of cutting it into two. Jinnah, however, was all vanity, which was deeply hurt when he received fewer seats during the 1937 provincial elections. He demanded a Muslim state. India would be divided with surgical precision, he promised Mountbatten. The King’s cousin, the book says, dealt with him like a sailor rather than a statesman but Mountbatten knew that he could not move the unmoved, and most of Congress were in favour of two nations. Rooms full of rubies and a pen pistol But it took India’s iron man, Vallabhai Patel, to keep the rest of India intact and convince over 500 rajas, princes, nawabs and nizams as they called themselves to shift their allegiance from the crown to the nation. Stronger than the unity statue built in his honour, Patel continued summing up a case for the jury even after he was handed a note saying that his wife passed away. <img src="https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Tg5fY-1m5Ss0GRW5lyxI5EOOqGIj6wI8Khjk4H_6IPLQ5CHpoAlHdVgl55Ywl13wypgztoO0RsSkrzRWG9wE6xrWjgyCKl8VMD5Eq3wVdi7gTBeh=s0-d-e1-ft#https://www.businessinsider.in/photo/93508178/93508178/Master.jpg" class="CToWUd a6T" />The Statue Of Unity BCCLPatel and the career bureaucrat, V.P. Menon, executed their operation seduction to gain control over men who were already seduced by sex, sport and the worst of all maladies - boredom. Most of them amused themselves with Lancaster pistols made of solid gold, rubies the size of pigeon eggs and working train sets on silver rails. The Jeff Bezos of that time, known to be the world’s richest, was the Nizam of Hyderabad, who had rooms full of precious stones eaten away by rats as the miser spent nothing and resorted to smoking the leftover cigarette butts of his departed guests! Most of the eccentric rajas sided with India – even Hari Singh of Kashmir, who wanted to be independent, was worn down by logic that a landlocked state would forever remain in a state of war. But the young Maharaja of Jodhpur, certain that his lavish life wouldn’t be approved by the Congress socialists, tried to go over to Jinnah’s side. But Menon’s watchful spies got wind of it, cornered him, and the Maharaja held a pen-pistol to the bureaucrat's forehead until Mountbatten confiscated it – and used it later to liven parties back home. Cursed by the stars Mountbatten was warned by the most popular astrologist of the time that August 15, 1947 was a ‘day cursed by stars’. He, however, chose sentiment over astrology – the date was the anniversary of the day Burma won against Japan, a war he was part of. It wasn’t just the viceroy, even Nehru and Jinnah did not see the bloodbath that followed. What stopped them from seeing what was to come was their own tolerance and atheism. Communal passions ran so high and so deep that right after the Union Jack came off the Viceroy house, Punjab and Bengal fell into a riotous rage – something a wily Gandhi always knew. That’s why the 78-year-old spent the midnight far away from the celebrations, spinning and lamenting the night India became independent, 75 years back.

SIMPLY PUT: What happened before India got Freedom@Midnight

Prologue: The history of the <keyword id="81273" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="British-Raj" source="Orion">British Raj</keyword> in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> is so vast and so full of life that no movie – be it the action-heavy RRR, a gamified Lagaan or even the many passionate Bhagat Singh movies – could scratch the surface of it. But an American and a Frenchman paired up to achieve this in their book ‘<keyword id="400044" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Freedom-at-Midnight" source="Orion">Freedom at Midnight</keyword>’. It’s the story of India that many Indians know little about. For years, I have regaled many with the unbelievable anecdotes from the book, which is soon to be made into a web series. As we complete <keyword id="2177193" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="75-years-of-independence" source="Orion">75 years of independence</keyword>, I believe a brief summary of this epic is in order for we all need to know the history of how we got here today, breathing free in a country we can call our own. <div type="image" title="India at 75" msid="93508033" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;India at 75&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> A century and a half after Vasco da Gama discovered India, most of Europe had given up bland meals, and now pepper mills are on every dinner table. But India remained a free country only until the 1600s. That’s when Dutch traders decided to raise the rates of a pound of pepper by five shillings — a move that made a cartel of Englishmen receive an official sanction from Queen Elizabeth I to exclusively trade in all countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope. The company, called East India Company (EIC), also the world’s first company to issue equity shares – kickstarted a reign of evil, by a race which believed was ‘destined to govern and subdue’, according to Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre’s classic Freedom at Midnight. <div type="image" title="Freedom At Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre" msid="93508039" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Freedom At Midnight by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The wolf of this yet to be formed Wall Street was Captain William Hawkins, a seaman who was more of a pirate than an explorer. He soon found himself in the court of Jahangir, in an empire so vast and wealthy that his own Queen would have appeared to be the ruler of a provincial hamlet in contrast. Queen, Kipling and memsahibs EIC’s coffers filled but India, with its numerous territories and squabbles, would not let him hold on to their policy of ‘trade not territory’. But white supremacy is to prevail amongst ‘lesser breeds without law’ as Jungle Book writer Rudyard Kipling puts it. Even the British born writer believed that the right to rule Indians was placed on British soldiers by “the inscrutable decree of the providence”. The British shouldered it and region after region was lured by treasures if not treachery, weak and powerful kings won with weak enemies. The great Maratha Shivaji himself was known to have admired the British who fought for their honour, as he laid siege on Surat. Droves of young English men arrived in this strange land – with men in sagging dhotis and bare-armed women in sarees, and travelled the length and breadth of the country into villages with rations and letters that proclaimed their rights. And, they were all taught one principle - The English ran the country but they dwell apart. Memsahibs in India started running a very large version of Downton Abbey – with dinner parties that boasted of a servant per guest. They also set the tone for the Victorian era social seclusion – probably to keep their men away from the exotic temptations of the state. But it also made the British much different from many rulers that made India their home. Also, they were sending away taxes they collected from them back to the crown, as Indians starved. The British in India lived it up, served by coolies, and none were ‘better than Gunga Din’, a poetic character that saves an Englishman. They hunted tigers and killed ‘almost all’ cheetahs, the smallest of the big cats - which are now extinct in India, thanks to the Raj. They were having champagne in silver buckets and golfing, in style – golf arrived in India 30 years before New York. They also built the world’s highest golf course at 11,000 feet on the Himalayas. Almost a century after India became a British colony directly under the Queen’s rule, after the devastating Second World War, the country’s parliament voted to ‘leave the country’. George VI was sad that he had let go of a country he always wanted to visit but couldn’t. To ensure there was a smooth transfer of power that didn't lead to anarchy, he chose his handsome cousin, who was known as much for his charm as his military prowess. The former trait would serve Louis Mountbatten more than the latter, as he became the lord and the last viceroy of India, as he took over what his predecessor called, ‘Operation Madhouse’. <div type="image" title="Louis Mountbatten" msid="93508078" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Louis Mountbatten&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> The new-age Buddha and Christ Elsewhere in another continent and another British colony, a young lawyer who was an utter failure in Bombay, landed in South Africa and to his own surprise found success. He profusely read Henry Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy and the Gujarati brain of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was working in wonderful ways. <div type="image" title="Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi" msid="93508085" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> When the British government irked him by closing Transvaal borders to India, he led a movement of Thoreau’s civil disobedience with over 2,000 people that included women and children. He added his own twist – non-violence and he brought it back to India. Now called Gandhigiri, his principles continue to inspire generations across continents. The man who took a vow of poverty, had held on to his Ingersoll watch for years until it was stolen when he was travelling in a train. He was moved to tears as he told this story with child-like pain to Lord Mountbatten, but his loss was short-lived. The man who stole it, returned it and begged his forgiveness – which was given with a hug and a chuckle. Gandhigiri had taken over India at the time of Mountbatten’s arrival. Mountbatten knew that this man who Winston Churchill sneered at, ‘as a half-naked fakir’ was not to be taken lightly. After all, Gandhi had already sent back Sir Richard Cripps without a deal, refusing UK’s offer during the war to rule India as a British dominion. Goat curd and surgical precision Mountbatten called it Operation Seduction and while he forged a great friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi was another soul altogether. He insisted on eating his own goat curd at the Viceroy House, took prayer breaks and insisted that India should remain one – keep the baby alive instead of cutting it into two. Jinnah, however, was all vanity, which was deeply hurt when he received fewer seats during the 1937 provincial elections. He demanded a Muslim state. India would be divided with surgical precision, he promised Mountbatten. The King’s cousin, the book says, dealt with him like a sailor rather than a statesman but Mountbatten knew that he could not move the unmoved, and most of Congress were in favour of two nations. Rooms full of rubies and a pen pistol But it took India’s iron man, Vallabhai Patel, to keep the rest of India intact and convince over 500 rajas, princes, nawabs and nizams as they called themselves to shift their allegiance from the crown to the nation. Stronger than the unity statue built in his honour, Patel continued summing up a case for the jury even after he was handed a note saying that his wife passed away. <div type="image" title="The Statue Of Unity" msid="93508178" hostid="261" sizebytes="162276" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The Statue Of Unity&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Patel and the career bureaucrat, V.P. Menon, executed their operation seduction to gain control over men who were already seduced by sex, sport and the worst of all maladies - boredom. Most of them amused themselves with Lancaster pistols made of solid gold, rubies the size of pigeon eggs and working train sets on silver rails. The Jeff Bezos of that time, known to be the world’s richest, was the Nizam of Hyderabad, who had rooms full of precious stones eaten away by rats as the miser spent nothing and resorted to smoking the leftover cigarette butts of his departed guests! Most of the eccentric rajas sided with India – even Hari Singh of Kashmir, who wanted to be independent, was worn down by logic that a landlocked state would forever remain in a state of war. But the young Maharaja of Jodhpur, certain that his lavish life wouldn’t be approved by the Congress socialists, tried to go over to Jinnah’s side. But Menon’s watchful spies got wind of it, cornered him, and the Maharaja held a pen-pistol to the bureaucrat's forehead until Mountbatten confiscated it – and used it later to liven parties back home. Cursed by the stars Mountbatten was warned by the most popular astrologist of the time that August 15, 1947 was a ‘day cursed by stars’. He, however, chose sentiment over astrology – the date was the anniversary of the day Burma won against Japan, a war he was part of. It wasn’t just the viceroy, even Nehru and Jinnah did not see the bloodbath that followed. What stopped them from seeing what was to come was their own tolerance and atheism. Communal passions ran so high and so deep that right after the Union Jack came off the Viceroy house, Punjab and Bengal fell into a riotous rage – something a wily Gandhi always knew. That’s why the 78-year-old spent the midnight far away from the celebrations, spinning and lamenting the night India became independent, 75 years back. Before we let you go, here's what we like you to know-Innovaccer's solutions have been transforming the healthcare industry their unique approach to data analytics. Sandeep Gupta Co-Founder and COO, Innovaccer details this scion's growth as they continue to make healthcare data accessible, useful and transformative. Register Now: <a href="https://saasscions.com/" target="_blank">https://saasscions.com/</a> <div type="image" title="Business Insider India brings you SaaS Scions" msid="93508208" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Business Insider India brings you SaaS Scions&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

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