The Sikh Empire’s power was severely diminished after the First Anglo-Sikh War. The British were effectively the senior partner in the royal court with British Resident Henry Lawrence effectively overseeing policy. Maharaja Duleep Singh was only a child and it was his mother, Maharani Jind Kaur, who played the central role in the decisions of the royal durbar (court). Tensions within the court reached breaking point when Lawrence imprisoned the Maharani in 1847, less than a year before the outbreak of the war.

Maharani Jind Kaur

Source: George Richmond, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The war took place across the Punjab and ended in Sikh defeat and dissolution of the Sikh Empire.