122.177.81.47: /* Marriages and Children */

2021-06-26T18:19:03Z

Marriages and Children

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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2017}}
{{Tone|date=May 2009}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Pratap Singh Rao Gaekwad
| title =
| image = Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad.jpg
| caption = Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad
| succession = [[Baroda State|Maharaja of Baroda]]
| reign = 1939 – 1951
| coronation =
| predecessor = [[Sayajirao Gaekwad III]]
| successor = [[Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad|Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad II]]
| full name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1908|06|29}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1968|07|19|1908|06|29}}
| death_place =
| queen = Maharani Shanta Devi Sahib<br>Maharani [[Sita Devi (Maharani of Baroda)|Sita Devi Sahib]]
| issue = {{plainlist|
* [[Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad|Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad II]]
* [[Mrunalini Devi Puar|Mrunalini Raje Gaekwad]]
* Premila Raje Gaekwad
* Sarala Raje Gaekwad
* Vasundharadevi Raje Gaekwad
* [[Ranjitsinh Pratapsinh Gaekwad|Ranjitsinhrao Gaekwad]]
* Lalitadevi Raje Gaekwad
* [[Sangramsinh Gaekwad|Sangramsinhrao Gaekwad]]
* Sayajirao Gaekwad
}}
| royal house =
| dynasty = [[Gaekwad dynasty|Gaekwad]]
| father = Yuvraj Fatehsinhrao Gaekwad
| mother = Padmavati Bai Sahiba
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
}}
[[Shrimant]] [[Maharaja]] [[Sir]] '''Pratap Singh Rao Gaekwad''' (29 June 1908 – 19 July 1968), belonging to the [[Gaekwad]] dynasty of the [[Maratha]]s, was the last ruling Maharaja of Baroda. He succeeded to the throne upon the death of his grandfather [[Sayajirao Gaekwad III]] in 1939. In 1947, [[British India]] was partitioned into two independent dominions, and Pratapsinh acceded his state to the [[Dominion of India]]. By 1949, Baroda had been merged into India.

Pratapsinh retained his title and certain privileges, but in 1951 he was deposed by the government of India for allegedly irresponsible behavior. He then retired to Europe with his second wife, a woman of notorious reputation, and settled in [[Monaco]]. He died in 1968 and was succeeded by his eldest son, [[Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad]], who had been officiating as Maharaja since 1951.

Pratapsinh founded the [[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]] in 1949, as per the wishes of his grandfather, Sayajirao, and settled the "Sir Sayajirao Diamond Jubilee and Memorial Trust", which still exists, providing for the educational and other needs of the people of the former [[Baroda State]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.msubaroda.ac.in/founder.php|title=Founder of MSU|publisher=[[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]] website|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709023554/http://www.msubaroda.ac.in/founder.php|archivedate=9 July 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Biography==
He was a hedonistic spendthrift who had a tendency to squander his state's money. He had inherited an estate that was conservatively valued in excess of $US300 million (in 1939 dollars), which included an assortment of jewellery with an estimated value of $US15 million.<ref name="ReferenceA">The Maharajahs by John Lord 1971 Random House {{ISBN|0-394-46145-2}}</ref> He went on a 1948 six-week tour of the [[United States]], where he and his second wife were welcomed into the salons of [[upper class|high society]]. They spent a reported $US10 million during their visit to America. The Indian government did an audit of Baroda's treasury after the widely read news reports. The auditors concluded that the Gaekwad had taken several interest-free loans from Baroda's treasury which they considered inappropriate. He agreed to pay the money back in yearly installments from his income of $US8 million.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

When [[British India]] gained independence from Britain as two new dominions, both sought to absorb the princely states. This was a thorny issue, as technically the Princes were independent rulers and their states were private domains. The British withdrawal from India left a vacuum, with the British releasing the princes from their [[subsidiary alliance]]s. However, most were militarily weak, and within about a year pressure from the new countries of India and Pakistan had resulted in most of the maharajas and other princes [[Instrument of Accession|acceding]] to the one of the two. Pratap Singh was so distraught after he signed the [[Instrument of Accession]] for Baroda that he wept in the arms of [[V. P. Menon]].<ref>Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, ''Freedom at Midnight'' (New York: Simon and Schuster; {{ISBN|0-671-22088-8}}), p. 214</ref>

==Family==
His father was Fatehsinghhrao Gaekwad and his mother was Padmavati Bai Saheba.<ref>[http://www.uq.net.au/~zzhsoszy/ips/b/baroda.html] INDIAN PRINCELY STATES WEBSITE -Baroda</ref> His father was heir apparent, but died at the age of 23 before he could ascend to the throne. Fatehsinghrao was a disappointment to his parents. Fatehsinghrao's father, Sayajirao Gaekwad III, abstained from alcohol, but Fatehsinghrao was a heavy drinker,<ref name="lucymoore">Lucy Moore, ''Maharanis: a [[family saga]] of four queens'', New York: Penguin, (2006), pp. 77, 91; {{ISBN|0-14-303704-8}}</ref> which may have contributed to his early death. 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.<ref name="lucymoore"/>

===Marriages and Children===
Pratapsinghhrao married twice. In 1929, he married Shantadevi (1914-2002), the daughter of Sardar Mansinhrao Subbarao Ghorpade of Hasur in [[Kolhapur]] state. The couple had three sons and five daughters:<ref>[http://www.uq.net.au/~zzhsoszy/ips/b/baroda.html Baroda] at INDIAN PRINCELY STATES, uq.net.au; accessed 3 April 2016.</ref>
# [[Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad|Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad II]] (2 April 1930 – 1 September 1988), who succeeded as the Maharaja of Baroda. He married the only daughter of Maharaja Umaid Singh of Jodhpur. They did not have children, and therefore his brother Ranjitsingh succeeded him as Maharaja of Baroda.
# [[Mrunalini Devi Puar|Mrunalini Raje Gaekwad]] (25 June 1931 – 1 January 2015). Was given in marriage to Maharaja Anandrao II Puar of [[Dhar]]. No surviving issue.
# Premila Raje Gaekwad (17 April 1933 – present). She was given in marriage to the Darbar Sahib (ruling prince) of [[Jasdan]] state in [[Kathiawar]],a former princely state of Kathi Kshatriya. She has one daughter and one son, the present Durbar Sahib of Jasdan, who is married to the daughter of Premila's brother Ranjitsinh, Maharaja of Baroda (see below)
# Sarala Raje Gaekwad (1935–present). Renamed Sattvashila Raje Bhonsle upon her wedding, she was given in marriage to her first cousin, Raja Shivram Sawant Bhonsle, ruler of Sawantwadi state, who is the son of her father's sister. She has one son, the present Raja of Sawantwadi, and one daughter.
# Vasundharadevi Raje Gaekwad (4 October 1936 – present). She was given in marriage to the Raja of [[Sanduru|Sandur]] in [[Karnataka]], Raja Murarrao Yeshwantrao Ghorpade, who was at one time a minister in the Karnataka government. She has three sons and one daughter, including the present Raja of Sandur.
# [[Ranjitsinh Pratapsinh Gaekwad|Ranjitsinhrao Gaekwad]] (8 May 1938 – 9 May 2012), who succeeded his brother as the Maharaja of Baroda. Married to a daughter of the Jadhav family, who are nobles of [[Gwalior]] state, he had one son, Samarjitsinh, who succeeded him as titular Maharaja of Baroda, and two daughters. The elder daughter is married to her cousin the ruler of [[Jasdan]] in [[Kathiawar]] (see above), while the younger daughter has been married twice. Her first husband was Uraaz Bahl, a nephew of the socialite [[Parmeshwar Godrej]], and her second husband is a Bengali corporate executive settled in New Zealand.
# Lalitadevi Raje Gaekwad (3 December 1939 – present). Was given in marriage to Dr. Amritrao Kirdatt of Dhamtari in [[Chhattisgarh]], a [[Maratha]] nobleman. She has five children, being in order of birth Aditya Kirdutt, Kavita Mohite (daughter), Sarita Shreyas (daughter), Shailesh Kirdatt and Chirayu Kirdatt.
# [[Sangramsinh Gaekwad|Sangramsinhrao Gaekwad]] (6 August 1941 – present). Married Asha Rajyalakshmi Devi (born 1946), fourth daughter of Arjun Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana of the [[Rana family]] of [[Nepal]]. He has one son and one daughter:
## Pratapsinhrao Sangramsinhrao Gaekwad (26 August 1971 – present). He married Praggyashri, youngest daughter of [[Pyar Jung Thapa]], former COAS of the Royal [[Nepal Army]], and a member of the Rana family of Nepal; no issue.
## [[Priyadarshini Raje Scindia|Priyadarshini Raje]] (1975-), the present Maharani of Gwalior, as wife of [[Jyotiraditya Scindia]], Maharaja of [[Gwalior]]. She had one son and one daughter.

In the early 1940s, Pratapsinhrao fell in love with a glamorous married woman, [[Sita Devi of Baroda|Sita Devi]], a daughter of Maharajah [[Rao Venkata Kumara Mahipati Surya Rau]] Maharaja of [[Pitapuram]], who was already married to the Raja of Vuyyur and a mother of three children. He married her in 1943, after she had secured a divorce from her husband by ingenious means. This was in defiance of the anti-bigamy laws that his grandfather had imposed, and Sita was considered ill-suited for the exalted role of his consort.<ref>[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060813/society.htm#2 Tribune India profile], 13 August 2006.</ref>

The couple had one son, Sayajirao Gaekwad (8 March 1945 – 8 May 1985), who died unmarried.

==Titles==
*1908-1919: Shrimant Pratapsinhrao [[Gaekwad]]
*1919-1939: Shrimant [[Yuvaraja]] Pratapsinhrao [[Gaekwad]], Yuvaraj [[Sahib]] of [[Baroda]]
*1939-1941: [[His Highness]] Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Shrimant [[Maharaja]] Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad, Sena Khas Khel Shamsher Bahadur, [[Maharaja]] of Baroda
*1941-1943: His Highness Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Shrimant Maharaja [[Sir]] Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad, Sena Khas Khel Shamsher Bahadur, Maharaja of Baroda, [[GCIE]]
*1943-1944: [[Major]] His Highness Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Shrimant Maharaja Sir Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad, Sena Khas Khel Shamsher Bahadur, Maharaja of Baroda, GCIE
*1944-1945: [[Lieutenant-Colonel]] His Highness Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Shrimant Maharaja Sir Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad, Sena Khas Khel Shamsher Bahadur, Maharaja of Baroda, GCIE
*1945-1946: [[Colonel]] His Highness Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Shrimant Maharaja Sir Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad, Sena Khas Khel Shamsher Bahadur, Maharaja of Baroda, GCIE
*1946-1968: [[Major-General]] His Highness Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Shrimant Maharaja Sir Pratapsinhrao Gaekwad, Sena Khas Khel Shamsher Bahadur, Maharaja of Baroda, GCIE

==Honours==
*Baroda Golden Jubilee Medal-1926
*[[King George V Silver Jubilee Medal]]-1935
*Baroda Diamond Jubilee Medal-1936
*[[King George VI Coronation Medal]]-1937
*[[Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]] (GCIE)-1941
*Indian Independence Medal-1947

<gallery>
Image:Maharajah Pratap Singh Gaekwar 1.JPG|Maharajah of Baroda presenting shield at RAF Camp Baroda in January 1946.
Image:Maharajah Pratap Singh Gaekwar 2.JPG|Maharajah of Baroda (third from lef) at RAF Camp Baroda in January 1946.
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Sita Devi (Maharani of Baroda)]]
* [[Kirti Mandir, Vadodara]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Pratapsinhrao Gaikwad}}

{{s-start}}{{s-hou|[[Gaekwad dynasty]]||29 June 1908||19 July 1968}}
{{s-reg|}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Sayajirao Gaekwad III]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Vadodara|Maharaja of Baroda]]
| years = 1939–1951
}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaekwad, Pratap Singh}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1968 deaths]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:History of Vadodara]]
[[Category:Maharajas of Vadodara|Baroda, Pratap Singh]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Indian knights]]

Pratap Singh Rao Gaekwad - Revision history

122.177.81.47: /* Marriages and Children */