General (Sir David) Ochterlony and his harem.He had 13 wives. The youngest and favourite being Mubarak Begum. He was also enamoured by the Persian/Mughal lifestyle and liked going ‘native’. Was nicknamed loony Akhtar / Akhtar looni
Every evening he would go for a round of the Red Fort with his wives all seated on separate elephants with his retinue
A brilliant soldier and a fantastic career as the Resident of Delhi (1803) it seems he was very preoccupied with the question of his two daughters : should he raise them Christian ( British society was a bit unrelenting towards Mixed blood ) or Muslim? But if they were raised Muslim and married in Mughal royalty then they would be part of a harem themselves!
One of them apparently married Ghalib’s cousin
