Kapurthala's Regal Consultant

Prince Suryajit Singh is building on his family's luxury heritage in the consultancy business and venturing into private aviation.

- PRIYA KUMARI RANA

PRINCE SURYAJIT SINGH of Kapurthala, 34, is at ease in the jewel-box like surroundings of the New Delhi home he shares with his father, Tikka Shatrujit Singh, son of Brigadier Sukhjit Singh, the Maharaja of Kapurthala. He is poised and patient, even as he rearranges some sofas in the living room to get the right colour tones for the shoot and orders pizza for the crew.

Carrying forward his family’s luxury legacy, Suryajit is at the helm of two businesses, private jet aviation and luxury brand consultancy, and shuttles between London and New Delhi.

Headstart with LV

Growing up in Delhi, Suryajit attended Doon School, where he made lifelong friends. Armed with a B.A. in Economics (with a Minor in Art History) from Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, the land of the Amish people, he started looking for his first job in the U.S. In New York, a chance interview with Valerie Chapaloud, Louis Vuitton’s Head of the Americas, led to a job at the brand most dear to his family, Louis Vuitton. “My ancestors indulged in the brand. Seeing a variety of vintage trunks personalised for my great-great-grandfather (Maharaja Jagatjit Singhji of Kapurthala), I grew up not only with appreciation of its heritage and savoir-faire, but also developed a curiosity for the brand,” he says. Maharaja Jagatjit Singhji was a Francophile who built Jagatjit Palace, a copy of the Palace of Versailles, in Kapurthala, and had around 60 trunks for his robes, shoes, coats and swords made by Louis Vuitton. Suryajit was 14 in 2004 when this maison entered India and would often meet CEO Yves Carcelle, a friend of Tikka Shatrujit, when he was visiting the country.