 Prisoners in the Agra jail were trained and kept employed as carpet weavers as part of their rehabilitation . In 1886 , 34 convicts travelled to London to demonstrate carpet weaving at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in South Kensington . Karim did not accompany the prisoners , but assisted Jail Superintendent John Tyler in organising the trip , and helped to select the carpets and weavers . When Queen Victoria visited the exhibition , Tyler gave her a gift of two gold bracelets , again chosen with the assistance of Karim . The Queen had a longstanding interest in her Indian territories and wished to employ some Indian servants for her Golden Jubilee . She asked Tyler to recruit two attendants who would be employed for a year . Karim was hastily coached in British manners and in the English language and sent to England , along with Mohammed Buksh . Major @-@ General Thomas Dennehy , who was about to be appointed to the Royal Household , had previously employed Buksh as a servant . It was planned that the two Indian men would initially wait at table , and learn to do other tasks . 
