Unraveling the Lives of the Vicereines of India In 1858, the entire landmass of India came under direct control of the British Crown. To reflect the status and role of the Governor-General as representative of the monarch to the feudal rulers of the princely states, the term Viceroy and Governor-General of India was applied. His consort was accordingly elevated to Vicereine. From the first, Charlotte Canning, through to the ultimate Vicereine, Edwina Mountbatten, (including the most alluring Lady Curzon,) this is the biographical history of the ‘Invisible Empresses,’ illustrating what it was to occupy the most powerful position accessible to a woman in the age of the British Empire in India.