The French connection

In the early years of Bhopal's foundation, a branch of the French Bourbon family wandered into Bhopal in 1783. The extraordinary story of the Bourbons of Bhopal begins around 1560 with Jean-Philippe de Bourbon de Navarre, a close relative of Henri IV. A high-born aristrocrat and son of the Constable of Pau in southern France, Jean-Phillipe had the misfortune of killing a Gascon aristrocrat in a duel. Fleeing to portugal, he set sail from a Mediterranean port, was captured by Turkish pirates and sold to Ottoman emperor Sultan Soliman the Magnificient, emperor of Egypt. The Sultan recognised Jean-Philippe as a man culture, employing him in a high ranking position. When Soliman died in 1566 and the Ottoman rule in Egypt collapsed, his successor placed Jean-Phillipe in prison. In the prison, Jean-Phillipe met an old woman prisoner called "Maryam the Sorceress of Ethiopia". She was the dowager queen of Ethiopia, whose son had been deposed and killed by a usurper in a palace coup. Jean-Philippe, Maryam the Sorceress and her grand daughter Madelena made an courageous escape from prison and returned to Abyssinia. Thanks to Jean-Philippe's brilliant strategy, the usurper was defeated at the battle of Debrador and Medelena restored to her father's throne. By now Jean-Philippe and Madelna had fallen deeply in love and decided to get married. Fearing the wrath of her grand mother for marrying a foreigner, the young couple decided to elope to India, Madelena giving up the throneand riches that were hers by right. By the time Jean-Philippe reached Bengal, his beautiful Abyssinian wife Madelna appears either to have died or turned back to her homeland.

Jean-Philippe continued his journey, up the river Ganges and then Yamuna, to Delhi where the Great Moghul Emperor Akbar the great was at the height of his empirial power. The emperor was so impressed by his tales, that he was given charge of reorginizing the Moghul army's artillery and a grant of land with title of Nawab. In the mean time, two young Portugese sisters, Juliana Mascrenhas set sail from Portugal to be betrothed to Potugese military and civilian officers who had reached the zenith of power on the west coast of India, notably Goa. However, a Dutch privateer waylaid the ship before it could reach port. The Portugese girls were sold as slaves at the Port of Surat. One of these girls eventually ended up as the crown queen of Maldives - while the two sisters Maria and Juliana Mascarenhas were taken to the Emperor Akbar's court in Delhi. Allured by their beauty and grace, the emperor made Maria his christian wife in his large harem. Maria soon became a favourite among Akbar's many wives, to the extent that one of the murals in the Emperor's palace in Fatehpur Sikri is adorned by her fresco. Juliana was appointed the doctor to the imperial zenana, and was married to Jean-Philippe by the orders of Emperor Akbar. A large estate south of Delhi, named Shergarh, was granted. They built Catholic church and cemetery for Bourbon family in Agra. A place called Bibi Juliana Ki Sarai can still be found at Masihgarh near Okhla at Delhi.