Memoirs of an Arabian princess from Zanzibar

Emily Ruete is the married name of Sayyida Salama bint Said, the youngest of the 36 children of Sayyid Saïd bin Sultan al-Busaidi - the Sultan of Zanzibar and Oman. She was born in 1844, from one of the over seventy concubines of the Sultan. Her father was Sultan from 1791 until 1856 when he died. He was succeeded by his third son Thuwaini bin Said al-Busaidi in Oman, and by Sayyid Majid bin Saïd al-Busaidi, his second son in Zanzibar.

The book is a memoir primarily, but provides a thorough explanation not only of Salama's life but of the family dynamics and way of life on Zanzibar in this era. Because she eloped with a German merchant, moved to Germany and conversed to Christianity she is constantly not only comparing the ‘west to the east', but is playing a balancing act of justifying which is ‘right'. She continually offers up an opinion and reinforces her honesty in what she says, but ultimately we are getting her personal view.

There is a lot covered in the book, and it certainly provides an insiders view of the opulence and lifestyle of the Sultan's family. The palaces are well described, Salama's childhood, her schooling and her everyday life; but more than anything the family intrigues. With so many brothers and sisters, so many step mothers there was, once her father died, much in the way of intrigues, backstabbing, alliances and playing favourites. While Salama explains how she ended up on the wrong side of her brother Majid, supporting brother Bargash in his attempts to undermine the Sultan and replace him, she maintains an innocence, passing blame to her sister Chole who influenced her.

Spread throughout are descriptions of festivals, explanations of slavery and the lives of the slaves (very defensive), her plantations (where she went to life for a time) and then her departure (escape?) to Germany. The final chapter, written later than the rest of the book, describes her return to Zanzibar for a short visit some 19 years after leaving. Brother Bargash has become sultan, but officially she is persona-non-grata and keeps a low profile on her visit (but plenty of people risk punishment by talking to her).

There are absolutely no details about how she met or her relationship with the German merchant, other than saying he lived in an adjacent house. Wikipedia says she became pregnant to him and fled on the British ship when the pregnancy became obvious. While her German husband was killed in a tram accident in 1877, Salama (or Emily) lived until 1924.

Overall, an interesting read, capturing a part of history not well recorded. There are numerous photographs, sources not stated, but contemporary with the story, most of which are pretty good for the time.

4 stars