Review

Courting India by Nandini Das - An account of a diplomat's woes while courting rich drama and high art

By Mark Thomas
June 3 2023 - 12:00am
Painting of Sir Thomas Roe, stood before the Mogul, by Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton. Picture Getty Images
Painting of Sir Thomas Roe, stood before the Mogul, by Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton. Picture Getty Images

Anyone who has studied the British Empire would be familiar with such illustrious imperialists as James Cook, Robert Clive, Walter Raleigh and John Franklin. English triumphalism sometimes neglects to mention that those luminaries, in turn, failed to notice Sydney Harbour, looted voraciously, had his head cut off and ate his own boots. Few of us, though, would ever have heard of Thomas Roe.

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