Padmanabh Singh (born 2 July 1998) is an Indian polo player and head of the Kachhwaha clan, the erstwhile ruling dynasty of the Jaipur State.[1]
Padmanabh Singh | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 2 July 1998 |
| Other name | Pacho |
| Alma mater | Mayo College Millfield School |
| Occupation | Polo player |
| Parent | Diya Kumari |
| Relatives | Bhawani Singh (grandfather) Padmini Devi (grandmother) |
Personal life
Padmanabh Singh was born in New Delhi on 2 July 1998 to Diya Kumari, an Indian politician, and her husband, Narendra Singh.[1][2] He was educated at Mayo College in Ajmer[3] and at Millfield, a public school in Street, Somerset, England.[2] Since 2018, he has been enrolled in Università e Nobil Collegio Sant'Eligio in Rome, studying cultural heritage management, art history and the Italian language.[4] He is known as Pacho by his loved ones and friends, a nickname from his grandmother, Rajmata Padmini Devi.
Singh is the great-grandson of Man Singh II, the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jaipur in the British Raj, though the relationship is not patrilineal. Singh's mother is the only daughter of the late Bhawani Singh, an Indian soldier, hotelier, and the son of Man Singh II. His father is the son of a former member of staff of Bhawani Singh.[5][3] Singh's parents divorced in 2018.[4]
Upon Bhawani Singh's death in 2011, the 12-year-old Padmanabh Singh was unofficially installed as "Maharaja of Jaipur".[3] Although princely pensions, titles, and privileges were officially abolished in India in 1971, families of some former princely rulers have continued to use the old titles unofficially for certain family members, or made new ones for themselves. In some instances, the titles are used in conducting family ceremonies and traditions, to promote the ideal of princely India for tourists, and to sustaining the wealth, stardom, and clout some families have retained.[6]
On 4 June 2024, while in Edinburgh, he, his father, and his sister, Gauravi Kumari, met a serious road accident and sustained injuries.[7][8] He suffered three major spinal fractures and subsequently underwent surgery, during which a plate and four screws were inserted into his spine.[7][8] Following the surgery, the three were transferred to London, where they remained for six weeks, and while in London, Singh underwent physiotherapy.[7][8] Singh attended the Met Gala on 4 May 2026 in a phulghar coat that took over 600 hours to create and was developed in collaboration with designer Prabal Gurung and by artisans Yash and Ashima Tholia.[9][10]
Polo
Padmanabh Singh began playing competitive polo in 2015 in England and has been a member of Guards Polo Club.[11] In 2017, he led the Indian national team at Hurlingham Park in what was the first visit to the venue by an Indian team in over 70 years. His grandfather had led the last successful Indian polo tour of the UK.[12][13]
References
- 1 2 "Meet the 20-year-old 'king' of Jaipur, India, a polo star who spends his multimillion-dollar fortune traveling the world and studying in NYC and Rome". Business Insider. 31 December 2018. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023.
- 1 2 Parihar, Rohit (2 July 2016). "City Palace in Jaipur celebrates Maharaja Padmanabh Singh's 18th birthday". India Today.
- 1 2 3 "Indian schoolboy, 12, crowned Maharaja". NEWS.com.au. 28 April 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- 1 2 247 News Around the World (2 August 2021), The most glamorous royal family you've NEVER heard of! Meet the VERY glossy posse at Jaipur's palace from the king, 23, worth £500 million who's modelled for D&G to his fashion designer sister, Daily Mail, archived from the original on 5 April 2023, retrieved 3 September 2021
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ Bhandari, Prakash (16 September 2013). "The princess who could provide a royal touch to the BJP". Rediff. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ↑
- Karatchkova, Elena (2016) [2007], "Ghost Towns and Bustling Cities: Constructing a Master Narrative in Nineteenth-Century Jaipur", Raj Rhapsodies: Tourism, Heritage, and the Seductions of History, p. 30, ISBN 9781317071624,
The contemporary master narrative for Jaipur and Amber is 'royalty'. This theme is ubiquitous in tourist publications, such as Majestic Jaipur (Wheeler 1998). Royal personalities are emphasized, as in Jaipur: The Royal City. One article on tourist attractions of Jaipur features a full-page photograph of Maharaja Bhawani Singh, in full regalia, with his wife and daughter, all identified as 'the present royal family'
- Aldrich, Robert; McCreery, Cindy (2016), "European sovereigns and their empires 'beyond the seas'", in Robert Aldrich, Cindy McCreery (ed.), Crowns and colonies: European monarchies and overseas empires, Studies in Imperialism Book 142, Manchester University Press, p. 43, ISBN 9781526100894,
Although Prime Minister Indira Gandhi deprived the India princes of their official titles and privy purses in 1971, the maharajas and other princes, such as the traditional Maharana of Udaipur, who now styles himself as the 'Custodian' of the House of Mewar in Rajasthan, retain wealth, influence and celebrity; in 2015, a twenty-three-year-old economics graduate was thus installed as the most recent Maharajah of Mysore.
- Ramusack, Barbara N. (2004). The Indian princes and their states. Cambridge University Press. p. 279. ISBN 978-0-521-26727-4.
The princes of India offer fantasy for post-modern consumption. Faced with escalating maintenance costs and declining sources of income, princely entrepreneurs transformed palaces into hotels where tourists could experience an idealised, pampered lifestyle of royalty during a democratic era. In 1954 Karan Singh of Jammu and Kashmir leased his main palace in Srinagar to the Oberoi chain; it seems appropriate that he became minister for tourism and civil aviation in 1967 in Indira Gandhi's government. In 1958 the Rambagh Palace Hotel opened in Jaipur followed by the much photographed Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur in the early 1960s
- Karatchkova, Elena (2016) [2007], "Ghost Towns and Bustling Cities: Constructing a Master Narrative in Nineteenth-Century Jaipur", Raj Rhapsodies: Tourism, Heritage, and the Seductions of History, p. 30, ISBN 9781317071624,
- 1 2 3 "Padmanabh overcomes accident, leads Jaipur Polo team to victory: Maharaja Singh shares recovery journey after Scotland mishap, comeback, and game-winning goal in polo - Rajasthan News". Bhaskar English. 25 April 2025. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 "From breaking his spine to winning a polo match: How Jaipur's Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh recovered from a severe car crash that left him bedridden". The Times of India. 6 June 2026. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 6 June 2026.
- ↑ Sachar, Bani (5 May 2026). "Met Gala 2026: The Indian names who defined 'Fashion Is Art' on the red carpet". Harper Bazar. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
- ↑ Staff, Vogue (4 May 2026). "At their Met Gala 2026 debut, Princess Gauravi Kumari channels Maharani Gayatri Devi while Sawai Padmanabh Singh brings the Phulghar coat to the red carpet". Vogue India. Retrieved 5 May 2026.
- ↑ "The Polo Prince". Outlook Business. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ↑ Telegraph Sport (6 April 2017). "England polo to play India at Hurlingham". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ↑ "England International". Sportsgate International. Archived from the original on 22 July 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2017.