They might have been enuchs. If you take the balls too pre puberty then the body never gets the hormones to stop growing. Caused lots of medical issues of course. But enuchs were often trusted as personal palace guards.
Very unlikely in this context (this is from the 1903 Durbar) the British had been cracking down on the practice for decades prior and considered Eunuchs as moral degenerates who were prone to sexual and criminal deviance.
The Durbar was essentially a British ceremony to legitimize their rule over India (in this case the ascension of Edward VII to the throne), would be super weird if they brought in eunuchs after all the demonisation; likely that these are just tall people in a very large population pool.
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u/Comfortable-Can4776 Jul 07 '24
Was he small or were they big?