Best Of Both Worlds

Maharaja Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur is the quintessential millennial, effortlessly straddling old-world luxury and modern high living.

- Neha S. Bajpai/jaipur​​​​​​​ 

The salmon pink old town bares open its chest to a complex of courtyards, lush green lawns, a fascinating museum and the loosely guarded residence of Jaipur’s first family. We catch the first glimpse of the City Palace on an unusually rainy afternoon. Wrapped in dark grey clouds, the 18th century facade stands magnificently tall with the royal family’s Pachranga flag piercing the dense monsoon sky. The Pachranga is not flying solo today; it has the quarter-sized Sawai flag for company, announcing the presence of the maharaja in the palace.

Dressed in a white linen shirt, fitted brown trousers and tasseled loafers, Maharaja Padmanabh Singh is lounging around in the Chandra Mahal. He is happy to be back home and chatting with his grandmother, Maharani Padmini Devi, after five months of touring Brazil, New York and London. Lean and athletic, the 20-year-old maharaja exudes a youthful charm that is hard to ignore. He is polite to a fault, and if not for the glamorous setting, one tends to forget he is ‘His Highness’—the 12th titular maharaja of Jaipur.

In between shifting his temporary residence from New York (where he was studying liberal arts) to Rome, Padmanabh set out on a backpacking trip to Brazil. “I just packed a pair of denims and two T-shirts and hit the favelas with a friend. The place can be dangerous, [what] with all those drug lords and stories of people shooting each other,” he says. “We visited a school run by an Italian lady at one of the favelas, and it inspired me to pursue this dream of mine to start a charity. I felt the kids there were really happy to be in a secure environment. It was a little heaven, where children from various nationalities mixed so well with each other. I want to do something similar back home and have been discussing the idea with my family.”