What did the r i mean after King Edward vii's name?

Answer 1

After the Mughal Emperor was deposed by the British East India Company , and after the company itself was dissolved, the title "Empress of India" (or Kaiser-i-Hind, a form coined by the orientalist G.W. Leitner in a deliberate attempt to dissociate British imperial rule from that of preceding dynasties)[4] was taken by Queen Victoria from 1 May 1876, and proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1877. The title was introduced nineteen years after the formal incorporation into the British Empire of Britain's possessions and protectorates on the Indian subcontinent, Ceylon and Burma (though Burma was made a separate colony in 1937). Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli is usually credited with the title's creation.

When Victoria died, and her son Edward VII ascended the throne, his title became "Emperor of India". The title continued after India became independent on 15 August 1947 and was not formally abandoned until 22 June 1948 under George VI, although the British monarch continued to be the King of India until it became a republic in 1950.

When signing their name for Indian business, a British king-emperor or reigning queen-empress used the initials R I (Rex/Regina Imperator/Imperatrix) or the abbreviation Ind. Imp. (Indiae Imperator/Imperatrix) after their name (while the one reigning queen-empress, Victoria, used the initials R I, the three consorts of the married king-emperors simply used R).