Royalty of the Indian sub-continent

[indian_royal]

Yes you're absolutely right! I didn't realise it was the same tiara that Queen Mary wore at the durbar. I've seen camilla wearing it quite often but I guess it just didn't strike me. Thank you!
I wonder why it wasn't given to diana to wear...any ideas about that? Its quite an exquisite piece, although from the size of it I'm guessing it would work as an excellent headache inducer.
It was a gift I think.......

[wbenson]

The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Frontpage | Jaipur grooms a princess

The royal city is grooming a princess to fill the vacuum left by Maharani Gayatri Devi.

Diya Kumari, the daughter of Bhawani Singh, the erstwhile maharaja of Jaipur, is set to be the next face of the Jaipur royal family, which had become synonymous with the charismatic Gayatri Devi who died last year.

[Warren]

to add to the above...
...the Jaipur royals had decided to engage a public relations manager to oversee the family’s work, social activities and groom the 39-year-old Diya, who had triggered a storm a decade ago by marrying a commoner. Diya is the only child of Bhawani Singh, 79, and Padmani Devi, the former princess of Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh.

Diya heads the Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh School, an elite public institution at Jagatpura in Jaipur. She was instrumental in starting it as a pre-primary school from City Palace — the opulent home of the Jaipur royals — in 2001.The London-educated Diya — she has a diploma in arts — has several traits in common with Gayatri Devi. Like her grandmother, Diya has been a public figure seen at various social occasions and has taken on the onus of managing several family interests like the City Palace museum. She is also the chairperson of the tourism cell of the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

Diya too had created a storm in 1997 when she defied tradition to marry Narendra Singh Rajawat, who came from a modest family in Sawai Madhopur and was a cashier at the City Palace.The marriage led to widespread protests by Rajputs who were aghast that a royal princess was marrying outside the community and had threatened to excommunicate the maharaja.

The couple now stay at City Palace and have three children — two sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Padmanabha, is next in line to the Jaipur “throne”.

[Kasumi]

A descendant of the erstwhile Kullu royal family in Himachal Pradesh was killed in a road accident near Noida in Uttar Pradesh early Sunday, family sources said.
Abhishek was the eldest son of Karan Singh, a former state education minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party government (1998-2003) and scion of the erstwhile Kullu ruling family.
Karan Singh is also the younger brother of Maheshwar Singh, three-time BJP MP from the Mandi constituency in Himachal Pradesh.

An article

[Kasumi]

Shahzada Col (R) Khushwaqtul Mulk, son of former mehtar (ruler) of Chitral Sir Shujaaul Mulk, passed away in the Military Hospital Rawalpindi on Friday morning after protracted illness. He was 96.
Born in the princely family of Chitral on June 13, 1913, Khushwaqtul Mulk received his early education at home. He was sent to Royal Indian Military College Dehradun in 1926. After graduating from the Indian Military Academy in 1932, he was commissioned in the 2nd Green Howards Battalion and then served in 4/19th Hyderabad Regiment.
During his military career he took a memorable private visit to Iraq via Afghanistan and Iran. From 1944 onwards he served in the South Waziristan Scouts and later became its commandant.Khushwaqtul Mulk would spend his summers in Chitral but considered Peshawar his second home for the rest of the year. Here he made many friends owing to his warm, gentle and friendly nature. He bought the famous Holmes Studio in Peshawar Saddar belonging to RB Holmes, the pre-partition photographer from Peshawar, and renamed it Chitral House.
The late colonel was a regular member of the Peshawar Club and also served as its secretary in 1950s. He remained a ‘whiper-in’ of the famed Peshawar Vale Hunt (horse and hound club) from 1935 to 1951. In 1957 he joined the American Consulate and served there until his retirement in late 1970s. He was also the pioneer of Brooke Hospital, which he ran single-handedly for over six years.
The deceased was one of the senior-most surviving retired military officers of the Pakistan Army. Settled at Shami Road in later part of his life and fond of animals, the gentle-hearted Khushwaqtul Mulk was a familiar sight for the residents who got used to see him dressed in shorts and taking regular walk with his dogs before sunset everyday.

Full article

[Kasumi]

Curators of the National Portrait Gallery's new exhibition The Indian Portrait 1560-1860 - which was opened March 11th - will reveal a six-foot, seventeenth-century life-size portrait of the Emperor Jahangir which they claim is the largest painting to come from the Mughal empire.
Jahangir holding a globe, dating from 1617, is opulently painted in gold and watercolour on cotton and includes relief jewellery. Apart from its appearance in an auction-house catalogue in 1995, the epic portrait now on view at the Gallery's exhibition has never previously been seen.

Artdaily.org

[indian_royal]

Thank you very much Kasumi. I just went through the link that you sent and now I really want to go and visit the exhibhition in person.....I love Indian paintings from this period. Again thank you for the link.

[Kasumi]

Indian_royal,
You are most welcome. I'd like to visit this fantastic exhibition myself, and I'll do my best to fulfil it .
I have a great respect for the Indian culture since my parents used to live and work in India for some time.

[Kasumi]

As Andhra Pradesh prepares to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Sri Krishnadevaraya, his throne remains an unresolved riddle to historians even today.
The throne, resembling a highly embellished chair used for grooms and brides at marriages of celebrities these days, was made in pure silver full with engravings on it. Now, it is being used by archakas as the peetham to place “ammavarau”, the consort of the presiding deity, Lord Shiva.
Full article - The Hindu

[Kasumi]

Secrets from the Maharaja's kitchen
The Maharajas loved good food! Says food expert Jiggs Kalra, “All royal palaces of India had great kitchens. The Maharajahs loved good food and life. The Nawabs of Lucknow had the greatest kitchens of all times. There was the authentic Shahi Tukda, made with layers of malai, and filled with rabri. The dish from the Patiala royal family that went global was Shikampur pulao, where the breast of chicken was filled with dry fruits. Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala had a separate bakery and loved French cuisine, while Rampur was famous for Raan and Agra’s Akbar Shahi Parth ka Paratha was something royalty feasted on.”
Full article with some special recipes - The Times of India

[Kasumi]

HM Maharaja Arwin Singh of Mewar (Rajasthan) allowes the guests to stay at Shiv Niwas Palace in the city of Udaipur. - Mail Online

[Kasumi]

The grandchildren of one of the last queens of India have pledged to fight attempts by her stepson to dispute the terms of her will. - BBC

[Kasumi]

Last week the heir apparent of Jodhpur HRH Prince Shivraj Singh was engaged to Gayatri Kumari, princess of Askot (Uttarakhand). Their wedding is likely to be held on November 18 this year. - HindustanTimes
Prince Shivraj Singh, 34 had a life altering accident in 2005 when he fell off his horse during a polo match at the Rambagh Polo Ground.
The quiet engagement ceremony finally took place at the Umaid Bhawan Palace. Princess Gayatri Kumari of Askot is in her late twenties, and is studying computer graphics and animation.
Prince Shivraj Singh on the magazine cover

And early this year, Princess Padmaja Kumari of the royal family of Mewar (which manages HRH Hotels) got engaged to Kunwar Kush Singhji Parmar of Gujarat.
Padmaja Kumari, 29 studied in the US, worked with the Four Seasons Hotel New York and returned to Udaipur in 2006 to work with her father Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar on new initiatives for the HRH group of Hotels.
Parmar lives and works in the US, and after marriage Padmaja Kumari is expected to move there.
The photo of the Princess Padmaja Kumari with her future husband

[Kasumi]

Liz Hurley has returned for India's head Injury foundation. She attended the Rajasthan Royal charity gala at the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers in Mumbai this Friday held as a fundraiser for the foundation on June 18th 2010.
The gala was held by Maharaja Gajsingh II of Marwar-Jodphur and Maharani Hemlata Rajye. Their connection with the cause came about after their son had suffered a head injury at a polo match a few years ago. Now their son has recovered and is set to get married in November. (see post #73)
To help others who are going through what they have gone through and hopefully get through it like have, the royal couple hosted this event that Liz Hurley supported.
Hurley showed up to the event with her husband Arun who happens to be of Indian descent. - Full article + tiny pictures

[Kasumi]

Ganaditya Vikharamsinghji Jadeja, 65, a member of the royal family of Gondal near Rajkot in Gujarat, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at his posh Worli flat on Wednesday. He was believed to have been depressed for sometime. - DNA India
Prince of Gujarati royal family found dead in Mumbai flat - NDTV
Mentally unstable member of royal family kills himself in Mumbai - Hindustan News

[Kasumi]

For the first time in its 600- year history, a 14-year-old girl has become the head of the Dharakote royal family in Orissa.
Geetanjali Devi took over the reins of leadership following the death of her father and former MLA Kishor Chandra Singhdeo, who died of heart attack on May 28.
Geetanjali was coronated amid chanting of slokas in presence of thousands of people who turned out to watch the royal ceremony. She arrived for the occasion riding a silver chariot.
"I will work to fulfill the dreams of my father," she said.
Geetanjali, the only daughter of Kishor Chandra (1961-2010), is studying in Class IX at Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
According to state historians, the Dharakaote estate was carved out from the Surada or Khidisingi, when its ruler divided his kingdom among his four sons. Dharakote went to his third son Raja Handu Singh (1477-1540). - Press Trust of India

[Kasumi]

A tiny picture of Queen Geetanjali Devi (see post # 76) during the crowning ceremony in Dharakote.
Picture credits - Press Trust of India

[Kasumi]

Her London friends didn’t forget to remember Gayatri Devi but her own family appears to have forgotten to build the traditional chhatri where she was cremated, almost a year after she passed away on July 29 last year.

The Jaipur royal family is more preoccupied with feuding over her legacy, said to be worth around $470 million. - Telegraph India

[Kasumi]

David Cameron has rejected a plea to return the fabled Koh-i-noor diamond - now the most famous of the Crown Jewels - to India.
There has been a growing clamour on the sub-continent for the repatriation of the gem, and in an interview on India’s NDTV channel the Prime Minister was asked directly if he would give it back.
After an awkward hesitation, Mr Cameron said 'that is a question I have never been asked before' and then insisted it could not be returned.- Daily Mail

[Kasumi]

Mohammed Amir Mohammed Khan, the Raja of Mahmudabad, has been fighting to recover his family estates, which include a royal fort and a palace built for a former British colonial governor, for 37 years.

The estates were seized by the Indian government along with hundreds of other 'enemy properties’ belonging to Muslims who migrated to Pakistan following the 1965 war between the two countries.- Telegraph