The intimate story of the last King of Bengal and his family's turbulent relationship with the British Empire at the height of its power.

On 15 May 1870, a Muslim wedding ceremony took place in one of London's most prestigious hotels. The groom was Nawab Nizam, the much feted Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, whose Indian kingdom was three times the size of Britain. The bride was Sarah Vennell, a seventeen-year-old English woman employed as a chambermaid at the hotel.

The Nawab had been received by Emperor Napoleon III, Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales to petition the British Government for a repayment of the money and restitution of rights that had been forfeited to the Empire. When his petition failed, the Nawab was forced by the British to abdicate, and his titles were permanently abolished. A generation later, against the backdrop of WWI and the Great Depression, the Nawab's son Prince Nusrat Ali Mirza defied the 'White Australia' immigration policy, changed his name to Norman Alan Mostyn, and travelled third class across the world in search of a better life.

Weaving in scandals, broken marriages and political machinations to enthralling effect, The Last King of Bengal is the extraordinary portrait of a royal family's fall from power between 1840 and 1940. Great-granddaughter of the Nawab Nizam, Lyn Innes writes with great insight as she exposes the complex prejudices regarding class and race, work and family, religion and gender, at the heart of recent British and Indian history.