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= Margaret_Brooke =
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Introduction
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Margaret, Lady Brooke, White Ratuh Consort of Sarawak (born Margaret
Alice Lili de Windt; 9 October 1849 - 1 December 1936) was the Ranee
of the second White Rajah of Sarawak, Charles Anthony Johnson Brooke.
She published her memoir, 'My Life in Sarawak', in 1913. The memoir
offers a rare glimpse of life in The Astana in Kuching and colonial
Borneo. The Ranee became legendary during her lifetime as a woman of
strength and intelligence, as well as on account of her status, which
she shared with the other White Rajahs, of being at once a British
subject and an Asian monarch.
Life
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Born Margaret Alice Lili de Windt, she was the daughter of Captain
Joseph Clayton Jennyns de Windt, of Blunsdon House (between Swindon
and Highworth, in Wiltshire, England), and Elizabeth Sarah Johnson.
Her younger brother, Harry de Windt, was well known to the west at
that time as an explorer and travel writer.
She married Rajah Charles, at 20 years old, at Highworth on 28 October
1869. After the marriage, Rajah Charles automatically appointed her
the title of Ranee of Sarawak with the style of Her Highness. She was
the first to hold the position, the previous White Rajah, James Brooke
being unmarried. The Astana was built for her as a wedding present by
her spouse. Ranee Margaret Brooke was described in her book as
intelligent, forceful, non-sentimental and with the ability to
dominate by her presence. Though her relationship with Charles soon
deteriorated, she secured an independent position for herself and left
Charles in the 1880s.
Her first three children died within a week of each other on board
ship in the Red Sea in 1873, while returning to England with the
Rajah. The couple married again, hoping to give birth to another three
children. They separated and living estranged, with Rajah Charles
living in Sarawak and Margaret in London, where she was at the centre
of a social circle that included several of the leading literary
talents of the 1890s, such as Oscar Wilde and Henry James. She
financed the education of her sons by selling the diamond Star of
Sarawak, and arranged the marriages of her sons by organising
glamorious social events for the British aristocracy and introducing
her sons to daughters of the British nobility to marry. Her appointed
title of ranee or queen gave her family a position in London society.
Compositions
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Margaret Brooke composed the national anthem of Sarawak, 'Gone Forth
Beyond the Sea', in 1872.
Legacy
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Fort Margherita, in Kuching, was named after her.
One of Oscar Wilde's fairytales, "The Young King", is dedicated to
"Margaret, Lady Brooke, The Ranee of Sarawak".
Works
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* [
https://archive.org/details/cu31924021573468 'My Life in Sarawak']
(Methuen & Co., 1913)
* 'Impromptus' (Edward Arnold, 1923)
* 'Good Morning & Good Night' (Constable & Co., 1934)
See also
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* List of Sarawakian consorts
* White Rajahs
* Kingdom of Sarawak
Sources
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*Koninklijk Genootschap voor Geslacht- en Wapenkunde, Nederlandse
Genealogieen 11, Den Haag 1996 (Literature regarding Broek-De Wind)
*M. R. H. Calmeyer, de Wind, de Windt, de Wint, Name: De Nederlandsche
Leeuw; Location: The Nederlands; Date: 1981;, Pag 23. Co - Author Mr.
O. Schutte.
License
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Brooke
