“As ambassadors and peacemakers, elder women like Gulbadan were key to the political affairs of the Mughal empire”
It all began in early 1576. Princess Gulbadan Begum sat opposite her nephew, the Mughal emperor Akbar, waiting for her turn to speak. The princess was of medium height, with distinctive straight eyebrows over penetrating eyes. She was dressed in a flowing long top over loose trousers, her chest covered with a stole thrown casually over her shoulders and head. Ruby and pearl necklaces adorned her neck.
Gulbadan dressed and carried herself like a woman of great standing. And why shouldn't she? She was, after all, the daughter of Babur, the revered warrior-king who had conquered Delhi in 1526 and in doing so laid the foundations for the Mughal empire. Bearing the wisdom of the decades she had spent on the move across Afghanistan and India, Gulbadan
