Maharaja Pratap Singh Gaekwad (29 June 1908-19 July 1968) was a Maharaja of Baroda who succeeded his grandfather Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III at his death in 1939. He ruled for a period of twelve years, from 1939 to 1951, when he was deposed by the Government of India and exiled to England. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad.
He founded the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1949 as per the wishes of his grandfather, Maharaja Sayajirao, and settled the "Sir Sayajirao Diamond Jubilee and Memorial Trust" which exists to date, and caters to the educational and other needs of the people of the former Baroda State. [1]
Contents |
He was a hedonistic spend thrift who had a tendency to squander his state's money. He had inherited an estate that was conservatively valued in excess of $300 million (in 1939 dollars), which included an assortment of jewelry estimated value of $15 million.[2] He went on a 1948 six week tour of the United States, where he and his second wife were welcomed into the salons of high society. They spent a reported $10 million during their visit to America. The Indian Union did an audit of Baroda's treasury after the widely read news reports. The audit concluded that the Maharaja had taken several inappropriate interest free loans from Baroda's treasury. He agreed to pay the money back in yearly installments from his eight million dollar income.[3]
When India gained its independence from Britain, it also absorbed the princely states. This was a thorny issue, as technically the Princes were independent rules and their states their private domain. The British withdrawal from power left a vacuum, which there were some legal rangeling that resulted in the maharaja and other princes to conceding their dominions to the new countries of India and Pakistan. Pratap Singh was so distraught after he signed the Instrument of Accession, which integrated Baroda into the Indian Union, he wept in the arms of V. P. Menon.[4]
His father was Yuvaraj Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad and his mother was Yuvarani Padmavati Bai Saheba.[5] His father was heir apparent, but died at the age of 23, before he could ascend the throne. Yuvaraj Fatehsinghrao was a disappointment to his parents. Yuvaraj Fatehsinghrao's father, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, abstained from alcohol, but Fatehsinghrao was alcoholic, [6] which may have contributed to his early demise. Sayajirao was also disappointed in his son's mediocre academic performance, which he attributed to his children having so much wealth and too few goals.[7]
Pratap Singh first married a the daughter of a Sardar of Kolhapur, Shanta Devi Saheb. He had eight children with the Maharani.[8]
He ignored the anti-bigamy laws that his grandfather had imposed and in 1943 took for a second wife, a glamorous divorcée considered ill-suited for the exalted role of his consort, HH Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda.[9]
Pratabsinhrao married twice. In 1929, he married Akhand Soubhagyavati Maharani Shantadevi Sahib Gaekwad (1914–2002), the daughter of a Sardar of Kolhapur, Meherban Shrimant Sardar Mansinhrao Subbarao Ghorpade. The couple had three sons and five daughters:
In 1943, Pratapsinhrao married Sita Devi of Baroda. The couple had one son:
|
Pratap Singh Gaekwad
Born: 29 June 1908 Died: 19 July 1968 |
||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sayajirao III (as Maharaja of Baroda) |
Maharaja of Baroda 1939-1948 |
Succeeded by Monarchy abolished (Merge within the Republic of India) |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Preceded by None |
— TITULAR — Maharaja of Baroda 1948-1951 Reason for succession failure: Monarchy abolished in 1948 |
Succeeded by Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad |