Tej Singh Prabhakar Bahadur

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Raj Rishi Sri Sawai Maharaja Tej Singhji Veerendra Shiromani Dev Bharat Prabhakar Bahadur, KCSI (17 March 1911-) is the former and present titular Maharaja of Alwar. A remotely related cousin of the former ruler, Sir Jai Singhji, he was selected by the British to rule Alwar, as Sir Jai Singhji had been deposed by them for gross misrule and cruelty. Although Sir Tej (he had been knighted in 1943) proved to be a far more effective and popular ruler than had Sir Jai, he only ruled for a decade, from 1937-1947, before the coming of Indian independence in 1947. Loyal to the British overlords, he strongly disliked the rise of the Congress Party, and the feeling was reciprocal. Following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Delhi authorities arrested Sir Tej on the trumped-up charge of having been involved in the assassination plot! Alwar was taken over by government officials, and the palace was searched for signs of "hidden treasure," while Sir Tej himself was detained in Delhi.

In 1948, Alwar merged with other Eastern Rajputana princely states to form the Matsya Union; the union merged into that of Greater Rajasthan the following year.

Sir Tej was stripped of his titles in 1971 as part of the mass derecognisation of the royal families. During the Indian Emergency, tax inspectors under the Indira Gandhi regime forcibly searched the Alwar palaces. In one of those searches in 1976, Sir Tej's eldest son and heir was killed mysteriously; how and by whom, no one knows. Sir Tej's grandson, Jitendra Tej Singhji, is now the heir.

Today, Sir Tej, at the age of 97, is one of the few surviving princely rulers of the old Indian Empire and the last living member of the Order of the Star of India.

[edit] Titles

1911-1937: Sri Tej Singh

1937-1941: His Highness Raj Rishi Sri Sawai Maharaja Tej Singhji Veerendra Shiromani Dev Bharat Prabhakar Bahadur, Maharaja of Alwar

1941-1943: Lieutenant His Highness Raj Rishi Sri Sawai Maharaja Tej Singhji Veerendra Shiromani Dev Bharat Prabhakar Bahadur, Maharaja of Alwar

1943-1944: Lieutenant His Highness Raj Rishi Sri Sawai Maharaja Sir Tej Singhji Veerendra Shiromani Dev Bharat Prabhakar Bahadur, Maharaja of Alwar, KCSI

1944-1945: Captain His Highness Raj Rishi Sri Sawai Maharaja Sir Tej Singhji Veerendra Shiromani Dev Bharat Prabhakar Bahadur, Maharaja of Alwar, KCSI

1945-1946: Lieutenant-Colonel His Highness Raj Rishi Sri Sawai Maharaja Sir Tej Singhji Veerendra Shiromani Dev Bharat Prabhakar Bahadur, Maharaja of Alwar, KCSI

1946-present: Colonel His Highness Raj Rishi Sri Sawai Maharaja Sir Tej Singhji Veerendra Shiromani Dev Bharat Prabhakar Bahadur, Maharaja of Alwar, KCSI