Overall: 41cm (16in) x 29.7cm (11.7in)
Provenance: Air Marshal Sir Charles Carr (1891-1971), AOC-in-C India, 1946
Silver gelatin full length portrait of the last ruling Maharaja of Baroda (1908-1968) in state dress. Autographed signed by the sitter in blue ink and dated 1946. Contained in an easel backed glazed Indian silver presentation frame with stepped out corners and an arched top applied with the armorial crest of Pratapsinh - a sword per fess, hilt on the sinister proper - beneath the crown of Baroda.
Sir Pratap Singh Rao Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda (1908-1968) succeeded the throne on the death of his grandfather Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1939 - (The surnaname Gaekwad references ‘Rescuer of the Cow’ and refers to an incident in Poona where Nandaji Rao rescued a (holy) cow from the claws of a tiger). Pratap Singh or Pratapsinh was considered the eighth richest man in the world. In 1943 he met his second wife Sita Devi, ‘the Indian Wallis Simpson’, at Madras races. His determination to marry alarmed the British authorities, who regarded it as a violation the antibigamy laws enacted by the previous ruler of Baroda. The Viceroy summoned Pratapsinh to New Delhi. Pratapsinh argued that the law applied only to his subjects, and that he being their monarch was exempt. The Viceroy's legal advisers concurred. In 1946, Pratapsinh bought a mansion in Monte Carlo where Sita Devi took up permanent residence. At Indian independence in 1947 and the subsequent merging of the princely states, Pratapsinh was among the first of the princes to acede his state to the Dominion of India, while temporarily at least retaining his title and privileges. In 1948 he and Sita Devi embarked on a widely publicised six-week tour of the United States. While in America, they were alleged to have spent $10m. The Indian government ordered an audit of Baroda's treasury, and concluded that Pratapsinh had taken several interest-free loans. He agreed to pay the money back in yearly instalments from his income of $8m. On 1 May 1949, he signed Baroda’s formal accession to India famously breaking and throwing away his gold Cartier pen in the process. In 1951 he was deposed by the Government of India with the loss of his titles and privy purse for ‘alleged irresponsible behaviour’. He retired to Europe, taking many jewels, including several strands of the legendary Baroda Pearl Necklace, with him. Ultimately Sita Devi’s extravagance took a toll on Pratapsinh’s finances and the couple divorced and in 1956. Pratapsinh founded the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1949, as per the wishes of his grandfather.