Dimensions
160 x 240 x 32mm
Sylvia Brooke (1885 -1971) was one of the more exotic figures of the 20th century. Otherwise known as the Ranee of Sarawak, she was the consort (and, by custom, slave) of Sir Vyner Brooke, the last White Rajah, whose family had ruled the jungle kingdom of Sarawak on Borneo for three generations.
They had their own flag, revenue, postage stamps and currency, and each White Rajah had the power of life and death over his subjects - Malays, Chinese and headhunting Dyak tribesmen. The regime of the White Rajahs was long deemed superior to any in the British Empire. But rather like the French monarchy before the revolution there was a sharp decline in their power and prestige by the 1930s.
When one of the Brooke daughters married a bandleader and another a wrestler, Sarawak threatened to become a music-hall joke. At the centre of this perceived decadence was Ranee Sylvia, author of eleven books, extravagantly-dressed socialite and incorrigible self-dramatist. This is her story.
