Sarah Forbes Bonetta: Who was Queen Victoria's goddaughter?

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A portrait of Queen Victoria's goddaughter has gone on display at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

The picture of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the daughter of a West African ruler, is on show as part of a plan to feature portraits of “overlooked” black figures connected with English Heritage sites.

  • Who was Sarah Forbes Bonetta?

She was an orphan, captured at age 5 by the King of Dahomey (now part of modern day Benin) in an attack that saw her parents killed.

The King presented her as a “diplomatic gift” to Captain Frederick Forbes in 1850

Captain Forbes had visited the King of Dahomey as a representative of Queen Victoria, on a mission to negotiate the suppression of slavery.

He named her Sarah Forbes Bonetta, partly after his ship, the HMS Bonetta, before bringing her to England.

Credit: PA Wire

  • How did she meet Queen Victoria?

Bonetta was introduced to Queen Victoria by Captain Forbes.

The pair met several times, including at Osborne, the monarch’s seaside home on the Isle of Wight, where the new portrait is now on display.

Queen Victoria became godmother to the seven-year-old, whom she described as “sharp and intelligent”, and paid for her education by missionaries in Kent and Freetown, Sierra Leone.

  • What happened to her?

Sarah Forbes Bonetta became an accomplished musician and linguist.

She married a Sierra Leone-born merchant, whose parents were liberated slaves, in Brighton in 1862.

She later named her first daughter after the Queen, who also became the child’s godmother.

She died in Madeira, aged just 37, after becoming sick with tuberculosis. Her daughter received the news while visiting the Queen at Osborne.

Hannah Uzor’s painting of Bonetta will be on show at Osborne House throughout October, Black History Month. Credit: PA Wire

Artist Hannah Uzor said Bonetta “challenges our assumptions about the status of black women in Victorian Britain”.

“To see Sarah return to Osborne, her godmother’s home, is very satisfying, and I hope my portrait will mean more people discover her story,” she said.

Portraits to go on display next year will include Rome’s African-born emperor Septimius Severus, who strengthened Hadrian’s Wall, and James Chappell, a 17th century servant at Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire, who saved the life of the country house’s owner, English Heritage said.

The charity said: “Black history is part of English history and, while we know we have more to do, English Heritage is committed to telling the story of England in full.”