Ralph Whelan

The Private Secretary to Lord Willingdon, Viceroy of India. Ralph's intelligence and easy charm have seen him rise quickly through the ranks to the very top of the Indian Civil Service but Ralph's jovial persona belies a ruthless cunning. Unbeknownst to his peers, Ralph has a chequered past, a past he will desperately need to contain if he is to retain his cherished position as the Viceroy’s most trusted advisor.

History
In 1932 Alice Whelan, fleeing a faithless husband in England and passing herself off as a widow, arrives with her baby in Simla,India, where her brother Ralph is private secretary to the Viceroy.Ambitious local boy Aafrin Dalal works for Ralph, to the disgust of his sister Sooni, a nationalist who supports Gandhi and daubs anti-British slogans on the Viceroy's wall.

An Unknown assassin later fires at Ralph but Aafrin steps in and takes the bullet and Alice Whelan insists on breaking protocol by accompanying him to hospital.

Following the shooting a curfew is imposed whilst Ralph's assistant Ronnie Keane brings in a journalist, to raise Ralph's profile, though Ralph directs him towards Aafrin, still lying injured in hospital. Also Ralph continues to have sex with Madeleine Mathers and shares a bath with her. It later turns out that Adam's father is Ralph as he had a past with his mother.

In 1935 it is announced that the Viceroy will step down as he returns to London, Cynthia see this as a chance and tells Ralph to take the opportunity to become the Viceroy. After Lord Hawthorne gets burned by Adam and Ralph plays detective to find out (eventually finding out) he determines that Adam does not get arrested he tries to send Adam to Delhi to hide from the Police but fails and instead Leena gets arrested and sent to prison. It turns out that he and Alice do not share the same father and that Cynthia hid the secret from him all along, which makes Ralph hate Cynthia. Ralph also finds out Alice is together with Aafrin. Also after Naresh Banerjee names Aafrin as his conspirator Ralph and Aafrin's friendship is put in decline for a short while. Ralph begins to admire Aafrin as he cares for Alice.

When Ralph goes to hunt a tiger with The Maharajah of Amritpur he puts Bhupinder's son as bait for the tiger, despite the fact the son is safe Bhupinder is angry as Ralph didn't use Adam. The Maharajah said he will help Ralph only if he gives Madeleine to him. He agrees the temporary wife swap, but it turns out that this was a trick by the Maharajah to get Ralph to be the viceroy, a position he turned down.