More Than a Fashion Icon: Princess Niloufer of Hyderabad State

This paper examines how Princess Niloufer (1916-1989) contributed to women’s anticolonial transnational networks as daughter-in-law of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Even though the Nizam was dubbed the “Faithful Ally of the British Government,” many women in the princely state supported the nationalist movement. Building on the idea that anticoloniality as a framework extends beyond organized political movements, I argue that Princess Niloufer contributed to the anticolonialist movement indirectly through her connections to transnational networks and her advocacy for women’s empowerment and equal civic rights with men without taking an openly anti-British political position.