Princely Airs

Patiala may be justifiably popular for its infamously large peg, but it retains vestiges of the opulence and fl amboyance of its maharajas and their lust for life.

- Gustasp And Jeroo Irani

To the maharajas of yore, statistics hardly mattered. With a liberal sprinkling of concubines, 350-strong harems and even as many as 10 official wives, no wonder they could end up with 88 grandchildren and the consequent convoy of 20 Rolls Royces to ferry at least a part of the family back and forth between multiple palaces!

Such was the legendary wealth and pizazz of the maharajas of Patiala, a former princely state in today’s Punjab, that its most dashing scion, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh (1900-38) loved to sport the dazzling Patiala necklace, studded with 2,930 diamonds and Burmese rubies with the gorgeous De Beers diamond glittering at its heart. It was the largest and one of the finest commissions undertaken by Cartier, the famed jewellers. It is whispered that His Highness sent a trunkful of diamonds (including the world’s seventh largest rock) and gems to Cartier, and ordered them to fashion the finest necklace ever.

Indeed, this flamboyant maharaja loved to astound a world hungry for spectacle and over-the-top antics of Indian royalty. Bhupinder Singh’s lifestyle was the stuff of myth and fantasy – he would cool off in his pool on summer afternoons surrounded by scantily-clad women. A phalanx of perfumers, hairdressers, jewellers and even plastic surgeons was at the beck and call of the maharaja to enhance the beauty of the handpicked women in his harem.