Princess Gouramma (1841-64), sometimes spelled Gowramma, or Gauromma, was the daughter of Chikka Virarajendra, often spelled "Veer Rajunder Wadeer" in the British press, the last ruler of the Kodagu (Coorg) kingdom of Southern India. Her father was deposed by the British in 1834 and exiled. In 1852, Virarajendra brought his young daughter with him to England, where he hoped to raise a case against the East India Company.

Princess Gouramma was presented to Queen Victoria by her father on 17 May 1852. In her Journal, Queen Victoria wrote: ‘He has come here with the intention of leaving his little girl, to be brought up as a Christian, which is a great step. […] The daughter […] is nearly 11, a dear, pretty little girl.’ Gouramma remained at Buckingham Palace, where on 30 June 1852 she was baptised and given the name 'Victoria', with Queen Victoria as her Sponsor. Queen Victoria continued to influence Princess Gouramma’s upbringing, and later unsuccessfully proposed a match between Gouramma and the exiled Maharaja Duleep Singh (see RCIN 403843). In 1860, Gouramma married Lt. Colonel John Campbell, the brother of Gouramma’s later guardian Lady Lena Login. She had a daughter, Edith Victoria Gouramma Campell, in 1861. Princess Gouramma died from tuberculosis at twenty-three years old in 1864. Queen Victoria also commissioned a sculptural bust of the Princess from Baron Carlo Marochetti (1805-67) (RCIN 41535).

Franz Xaver Winterhalter was born in the Black Forest where he was encouraged to draw at school. In 1818 he went to Freiburg to study under Karl Ludwig Schüler (1785–1852), and then moved to Munich in 1823, where he attended the Academy and studied under Josef Stieler (1781–1858), a fashionable portrait painter. Winterhalter was first brought to the attention of Queen Victoria by Louise, Queen of the Belgians (1812-50) and subsequently painted numerous portraits at the English court from 1842 until his death.

Here the Princess is depicted in Indian dress and rich jewellery, leaning on an Indian table. She is holding a Bible, an allusion to her conversion to Christianity.

Signed and dated: F Winterhalter / 1852.