By Gaggan Sabherwal
BBC, South Asia Diaspora Reporter
26th August 2020
An impressive five storey semi-detached family home in London that once belonged to Maharaja Duleep Singh’s son Prince Victor Albert Jay Duleep Singh, has gone on sale for an eye-catching 15.5 million pounds.
(Picture Credit : Beauchamp Estates)
Maharaja Duleep Singh was the youngest son of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and he was also the last Maharaja of the Sikh empire in the 19th century. Maharaja Duleep Singh was removed from the Indian State of Punjab along with his title and power at the end of the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849. He was later sent into exile in London.
Prince Victor Albert Jay Duleep Singh was his eldest son that he had with Maharani Bamba Müller. The couple also had a daughter Sophia Duleep Singh who went on to become a prominent women’s rights activist in British history. Prince Victor Jay Duleep Singh, was born in London in 1866 and was also Queen Victoria’s godson. This stunning five-bedroom property in the Little Boltons located in South-West Kensington is one of London’s most sort after residential areas and was occupied by Prince Victor Jay Duleep Singh after his marriage to Lady Anne Coventry, the daughter of the 9th Earl of Coventry, in January 1898.
Their mix-raced union however caused a huge furore in London’s high society as it was the first time an Indian royal had married an English noblewoman. The wedding that was resisted by both the bride and groom’s families went ahead and took place at St. Peter’s Church in London’s Eaton Square. It is said that their marriage was made possible due to the intervention of Prince Victor’s friend Edward, then the Prince of Wales and subsequently King Edward VII.
The British authorities had leased The Little Boltons house to the newly married couple as their new marital home at a peppercorn rent. The 1871 Census showed the house registered under East India Company ownership and staffed by a butler, two maids, a governess - for English language lessons - and a gardener.
(Picture Credit : Beauchamp Estates)
The Little Boltons house was originally built by builder John Spicer between 1866-68, designed by architect George Godwin junior. Upon completion in late 1868, the house in The Little Boltons was purchased by the quasi-Government owned East India Company, and registered as an investment property to be leased for rental income. Besides this property, the displaced Indian royal family also used properties in Wimbledon and Roehampton and these too were leased to them at peppercorn rents. A 17,000-acre country house, Elveden Hall, in Suffolk in eastern England was also used by the family.
Victor Jay Duleep Singh and his wife spent the World War I years in Monaco, where the Prince died aged 51 on 7th June 1918. His widow, Anne, Her Highness Princess Duleep Singh of Lahore, returned to London and continued to have use of The Little Boltons house until her death aged 82 on July 2, 1956.
According to Beauchamp Estates, the agents who are helping to sell this house, the property eventually went into private ownership and in 2010 it was refurbished and modernised, including a stylish and contemporary extension to the lower ground floor level.
(Picture Credit : Beauchamp Estates)
The five-bedroom house spans 5,613 square feet and boasts two formal reception rooms as well as an informal family room, a family kitchen and breakfast room, five bedrooms including a principal bedroom suite, a gymnasium and two staff bedrooms.
The historic house is currently under offer and very soon will have a new and a proud owner!
BBC Links to the article : BBC Punjabi : https://www.bbc.com/punjabi/international-53909678
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