15 minutes of fame: Aina Forbes Bonetta, Queen Victoria’s Yoruba goddaughter
Hannah Cusworth introduces Aina Forbes Bonetta, also known as Sara, a Yoruba girl who was transported from West Africa and became a goddaughter of Queen Victoria

It’s the HistoryExtra podcast’s 15th birthday, and to celebrate, we’ve asked 15 historians to nominate a figure from history they think deserves their ‘15 minutes of fame’. In this episode, Hannah Cusworth nominates Aina Forbes Bonetta, also known as Sara. A Yoruba girl transported from West Africa, Aina became a goddaughter of Queen Victoria. Hannah speaks to Elinor Evans about what her story tells us much about the connections between West Africa and Britain during the Victorian era.
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