<P> The French threat in Europe and its possible repercussions in India caused the British to strive to regain the custody of Shah Alam II . The British feared that the French military officers might overthrow Maratha power and use the authority of the Mughal emperor to further French ambition in India . </P> <P> Shah Alam II also corresponded with Hyder Ali and later with his son Tipu Sultan during their conflicts with the British East India Company during the Anglo - Mysore Wars and was very well informed about the expansionist agenda of the British . </P> <P> After the Battle of Delhi (1803), during the Second Anglo - Maratha War, on 14 September 1803 British troops entered Delhi ending the Maratha rule on the Mughals, bringing Shah Alam, then a blind old man, seated under a tattered canopy, under British protection . The Mughal Emperor no longer had the military power to enforce his will, but he commanded respect as a dignified member of the House of Timur in the length and breadth of the country . The Nawabs and Subedars still sought formal sanction of the Mughal Emperor on their accession and valued the titles he bestowed upon them . They struck coins and read the khutba (Friday sermons) in his name . The Marathas in 1804 under Yashwantrao Holkar tried to snatch Delhi from the British in Siege of Delhi (1804), but failed . </P> <P> Shah Alam II died of natural causes . </P>

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