Rajmata Gayatri Devi's a legend who will live forever. That was her aura. The world's most stylish royal woman always insisted she was ordinary.
Yet, she was one of India's most stylish, most independent and most modern of Maharanis.
In an exclusive interview just before her death, she said, “I’ve had a very happy life. I have no regrets. I'm not a nostalgic person. I live in the present. I just try to do what I can, when I see unhappiness around me. Why grumble about things that don't go your way. Make the most of life. Don't make me sound arrogant or extraordinary.”
NEW DELHI: Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan remembers Gayatri Devi, the grand queen mother or the 'rajmata' of Jaipur, as a "picture of grace and beauty" and a gracious host.
Amitabh recalls that while he was studying in Delhi University, he used to sneak into the Jaipur Polo Ground to watch polo matches where Gayatri Devi used to come as well.
"The maharaja of Jaipur (Sawai Man Singh), a great proponent of the game, would play there and accompanying him used to be his wife, the Rajmata Gayatri Devi. In her soft and pastel flowered chiffons, she used to be a picture of grace and beauty. I never imagined that one day I would get to meet this lady. But time and circumstances changed that," the actor posted on his blog www.bigb.bigadda.com.
Gayatri Devi died Wednesday at the Jaipur-based Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital (SDMH) where she was admitted Tuesday for breathing problems. She was 90.
When Amitabh learnt of Gayatri Devi's ill health a few days ago, he sent her a bouquet of flowers and a get well card.
"Her son had acknowledged my letter and informed us that she was very pleased to have received my concern and wishes...May she rest in peace."
Amitabh had met her on many occasions.
"After joining the movies, there were many visits to Jaipur for shootings and that is when a formal introduction with the Rajmata took place. I was later asked by Gayatri Deviji to inaugurate one of the functions at the girls school (Maharani Gayatri Devi) that she started, now a flourishing institution.
"Some years ago she had invited me to be the chief guest at a charity she promoted for the underprivileged and cannot forget what a gracious host she was that evening. On another occasion she called me over for a private lunch at her Lily Pond residence, serving me personally with delicious vegetarian delicacies which she had so considerately asked her kitchen to prepare," he said.
However, the last time that the erstwhile maharani of Jaipur sought Amitabh's involvement, he couldn't make it. And that was the last communication he had with her.
King Man Singh was familiar friend of Gaytri devi and her big bro was a good friend of man singh too. In the age of 14 Maan singh proposed her. Maan Sing had cast the spell on the princes by his sporting personality and even the princes was impressed by this polo giant as she was a good polo player too. After some meetings in London they both were in love and finally got married in 1940.
January 26, 1961, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (C), standing between the Maharaja and the Maharani of Jaipur, with her husband Prince Philip to the far left, pose with a killed tiger.
Queen Gaytri devi was a bold personality, she was pursuit of hunting, Horse Riding, Sport Car racing, Swimmig. Her vintage Car collection is ultimate. She made her first hint of tiger in the age of 12. When it come to horse riding there is no compilation she was too good in hose riding and polo.
Rajmata Gayatri Devi, who died on July 29 aged 90, was an Indian princess of renowned beauty whose life encapsulated the glamour and romance of the Raj.
Known to her friends as "Ayesha", she caused a minor sensation in India when, in 1940, she married for love rather than by parental decree, to become the third wife of the dashing Maharaja of Jaipur.
In 1962 she created a very different sensation when, as the Republic of India's first princess to stand for parliament, she won her seat by the largest landslide ever recorded. A decade later she won international sympathy when she was imprisoned for six months during the period of Indira Gandhi's notorious State of Emergency.
Princess Gayatri Devi was born in London on May 23 1919, the fourth child of the ruler of Cooch Behar State in eastern India. Her childhood years were shaped by the influence of two remarkable women: one was her mother, the Maharani of Cooch Behar, who ruled the state as Regent for more than a decade after the death of her father in 1922; the other was her maternal grandmother, the Maharani of Baroda, whose husband transformed Baroda into the most advanced princely state in India. These two formidable queens saw to it that Gayatri Devi was brought up as a thoroughly anglicised Indian princess with strong ideas of her own.
When Gayatri Devi was 12 she fell for the most glamorous young man in India, the Maharaja of Jaipur, then 21 years old. He was not only exceedingly rich and handsome but also a nine-handicap polo player, leading his Jaipur polo team to victory in every tournament they entered. Maharaja Man Singh already had two wives, both married for reasons of state, but this did not prevent him from becoming captivated by this beautiful and spirited tomboy princess who was quite unlike the more orthodox Rajput ladies whom he knew.
When Gayatri Devi was sent to the Monkey Club finishing school in Knightsbridge, they met secretly and became unofficially engaged. Their romance aroused opposition on all sides, and when in 1939 they let it be known that they intended to marry, there was consternation in princely circles.
In the Cooch Behar family, it was feared that Gayatri Devi was condemning herself to a life in purdah in a feudal state that would destroy her lively personality.
In the event, the marriage was a great success. The third Maharani of Jaipur accepted her role as the Maharaja's favourite but junior wife with good grace. She adjusted to the formality and restrictions of life in a Rajput royal zanana, but at the same time used her authority to bring the palace women forward into the 20th century.
The coming of the war helped to speed up this process of emancipation. The Maharani organised various forms of war-work, and in 1943 opened the Gayatri Devi School for Girls with 40 students and an English teacher. It became known as one of the finest schools in India.
Following Independence in 1947, Jaipur was merged with 18 other princely states to form Rajasthan State, with Jaipur City as its capital.
Although Maharaja Man Singh was appointed State Governor, it soon became apparent that all power lay with the ruling Congress Party.
Concern at what they judged to be misrule and abuse of power drew an ever-increasing number of former rulers or members of their circle into politics in opposition to the Congress Party. Many joined the Swatantra Party, among them Maharani Gayatri Devi.
In 1962 she made her first public speech and contested her first election, winning an overwhelming victory over her Congress opponent as well as a place in The Guinness Book of Records by securing a majority of 175,000 votes. The success of princely candidates in this and subsequent elections, however, virtually ensured their extinction as an order.
In 1967 the Maharani again stood for election in her home constituency and again won her seat; but when the opposition parties in Rajasthan attempted to form a state government, presidential rule was proclaimed, leading eventually to a return of a Congress government. In the same year the Congress Party adopted a resolution to abolish the princes' privy purses and privileges that had been granted to them in exchange for their voluntary surrender of their states.
In May 1970 the government introduced a bill to abolish the princely order, and the Maharaja and Maharani flew to England. A month later Man Singh collapsed and died while umpiring a polo match in Cirencester. Colonel Bhawani Singh, Maharaja Man Singh's eldest son by his first wife, was proclaimed Maharaja and the widowed Gayatri Devi became Rajmata, or Queen Mother.
Although still in mourning, Rajmata Gayatri Devi was persuaded to stand for parliament for a third term in 1971, and in the same year witnessed the passing of the bill that finally derecognised the princely order. This rewriting of the constitution signalled a new and ugly phase in Indian politics that the Rajmata and her stepson experienced at first hand when, in July 1975, both were arrested and incarcerated in Tihar Jail.
This was the start of the State of Emergency period when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi suspended all laws and made mass arrests on the ground that the security of the state was under threat. No serious charges were ever laid against either the Rajmata or Col Bhawani Singh.
After nearly six months' imprisonment in humiliating conditions, Gayatri Devi's spirit remained as strong as ever but her health began to break down. She was taken to hospital and eventually released on parole, on certain conditions that remained in force until Mrs Gandhi called an election in 1977 which saw her temporarily bundled out of office.
Rajmata Gayatri Devi's two decades of widowhood were not spent in seclusion, as might have been expected of the widow of a Rajput ruler. She and her husband had shared a great zest for sport and entertainment and, to the indignation of the traditionalists, the Rajmata continued to live life to the full.
She loved to travel, spending the summer months based in a small flat in Knightsbridge and her winters in Jaipur, where she held court in the dower house (Lilypool) that her husband had built after their first home, Rambagh Palace, had been transformed into a hotel. A list of VIPs from the hotel was daily sent over to Lilypool when she was in residence, and if not otherwise occupied she would invite them over for a glass of champagne in the evening. Those who displeased her were billed for the champagne.
This was entirely in character for, despite the wealth of the Jaipur royal house, both Gayatri Devi and her husband were renowned for their parsimoniousness, and the Rajmata was never an ostentatious spender. None the less, when her autobiography, A Princess Remembers, was published in paperback in England in the 1980s she asked her publishers if she might have a chauffeur-driven car for a morning's shopping; the chauffeur later reported that the "shopping" constituted a drive out to Surrey and the purchase of a large house.
Gayatri Devi had a natural beauty that achieved international recognition after Cecil Beaton photographed her in Jaipur in 1943; and she retained that beauty into old age. She never made a great performance about her appearance, however, any more than she put on the airs of a maharani. This simplicity of manner coupled with an unforced charm and good humour won her many friends throughout the world, many of whom she entertained generously in Jaipur.
To the end of her life she continued to take a great interest in the school she had founded and in all that was happening in Jaipur. A fine horsewoman in her own right, she remained a keen follower of polo and enjoyed breeding racehorses.
Rajmata Gayatri Devi's son by her marriage to the Maharaja of Jaipur predeceased her.
Hello Friends...This blog is tribute to queen of Jaipur Rajmata Gaytri Devi the last vintage queen of India and worlds most beautiful women. She left us alone by 29 July 2009 at 90. She was the Icon of Glamor Grace Grandeur and Humanity for the world.
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