Letters: Royal facts

The report "Vadodara's Gaekwad royal family settles Rs 20,000-cr property dispute" (October 25) is mostly correct. Towards the end, it has a statement that defies logic: "After... Independence, Pratapsinh, the son of the then king Sayajirao Gaekwad, had handed over the reins to his elder son, Fatehsinhrao Gaekwad." If Sayajirao was the king, how could Pratapsinh hand over the reins?

Sayajirao III died in 1939, after a long and illustrious reign. Pratapsinh, the son of Sayajirao's eldest son Fatehsinh (who predeceased his father) succeeded him by primogeniture. Already married with eight children, he married again in 1943, defying the anti-bigamy law of the state. Pratapsinh was considered to be the opposite of his grandfather. He was reported to have spent $10 million in 1946 when he visited the US with his second wife, Sitadevi.

After Independence, the state acceded to the Indian Union in 1949 and Pratapsinh effectively became a pensioner while retaining the title of Maharaja. He abdicated in 1951 (some say he was ousted by the Government of India) in favour of Fatehsinhrao, who became the titular Maharaja. Pratapsinh lived in England thereafter with his second family until his death in 1968. Fatehsinhrao's title and pension (privy purse) were ended in 1971 when Indira Gandhi abolished all princely privileges through a Constitutional amendment. The current use of the erstwhile princely titles (not confined to Vadodara alone) is an anomaly.

Shreekant Sambrani Vadodara

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