Tej Singh Prabhakar

Tej Singh Prabhakar KCSI (17 March 1911 – 15 February 2009) was the last ruling Maharaja of Alwar. A remotely related cousin of the previous ruler, Sir Jai Singh, he was selected by the British to rule Alwar, as Sir Jai Singh had been deposed by them for gross misconduct 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 administration, he strongly disliked the rise of the Congress Party. Following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Delhi authorities arrested Sir Tej on the contentious charges 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. After 1948, Sir Tej retired to his Delhi residence, Alwar House, where he lived for the next six decades, visiting his former kingdom but rarely.

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.

Sir Tej died at Alwar House, New Delhi on 15 February 2009, a month shy of his 98th birthday, after a (titulary) reign of 72 years. He was cremated at Delhi. At his death, he was one of the last surviving princely rulers of the old Indian Empire and was the last living member of the Order of the Star of India. He was succeeded as titular Maharaja of Alwar by his grandson, Jitendra Pratap Singh.

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Personal life

In 1931, Sir Tej Singh (then Tej Singh), married Her Highness Maharani Shri Chand Kanwarji Sahiba of Jodhpur (d. 1998). The couple had two sons and three daughters:

Titles

Honours

Preceded by
Jai Singh Prabhakar Bahadur
Maharaja of Alwar
1937 – 1971-Tituriol Maharaja from 1971-2009
Succeeded by
Jitendra Singh

References