Chitrangada Singh (''
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' Raje Scindia; born 1967) is an Indian businesswoman and a descendant of the former ruling family of a major
princely state
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...
during the
British Raj
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
in India.
She is the eldest child of the late
Madhavrao Scindia, an Indian politician and a granddaughter of
Jiwajirao Scindia
Maharaja Jivajirao Scindia KStJ (26 June 1916 – 16 July 1961) was an Indian Princely_state#Precedence_and_prestige, prince and government official.
In the British Raj, he was the ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Gwalior state ...
, the last ruling
Maharaja
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...
of
Gwalior
Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...
. Her wedding in 1987 to the grandson of
Hari Singh the last ruling Maharaja of
Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
—an extravagant social event in a drought-ridden India—was covered widely in the Indian and international press.
She is the co-manager of two heritage hotels:
Karan Mahal in
Srinagar
Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...
and
Taragarh Palace in the
Kangra valley
Kangra Valley is a river valley situated in the Western Himalayas.[Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...](_blank)
, England, in February 1967. Her father was studying at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
at the time; her parents and she lived in a two-bedroom cottage that had no central heating—her parents doing the housework including chopping wood.
After her parents' return to India, Chitrangada enrolled in
Welham Girls' School in
Dehradun
Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...
.
Wedding
Chitrangada's mother Madhaviraje Scindia and paternal grandmother
Vijayaraje Scindia
Vijaya Raje Scindia (12 October 1919 – 25 January 2001), born Lekha Divyeshwari Devi and known popularly as the Rajmata of Gwalior, was a prominent Indian political personality. In the days of the British Raj, as consort of the last ruling Ma ...
both hailed from the Rana family of Nepal, and Maharaja Yasho Rajyalakshmi of Jammu and Kashmir, wife of Maharaja
Karan Singh
Karan Singh (born 9 March 1931) is an Indian politician and philosopher. He is the son of the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, Sir Hari Singh. He was the prince regent of Jammu and Kashmir until 1952. From 19 ...
also hailed from the same family. The two families were therefore well known to each other, and they arranged the wedding of their children in the usual Indian way. This is despite the fact that, whereas the Dogra dynasty of Kashmir belong to the
Jamwal Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
community of the far north of India, the Scindias belong to the
Maratha
The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...
community of western and central India. Considerations of community background were set aside because Maharaja Karan Singh, a philosopher and politician, was known for his progressive views, and because the Scindias had already received two generations of Rajput brides from Nepal anyway.
On 11 December 1987, Chitrangada Raje married the politician
Vikramaditya Singh Vikramaditya Singh may refer to:
* Vikramaditya Singh (Maharana) (1517–1534), Maharana of Mewar Kingdom from 1531–1534
* Vikramaditya Singh (politician, born 1964), Indian businessman and politician
* Vikramaditya Singh (Himachal Pradesh politi ...
, the son of
Karan Singh
Karan Singh (born 9 March 1931) is an Indian politician and philosopher. He is the son of the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, Sir Hari Singh. He was the prince regent of Jammu and Kashmir until 1952. From 19 ...
, a philosopher and politician who was the first
Sadr-i-Riyasat
Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been ...
of Indian state of
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
and also the son of
Hari Singh, the last ruler of the
princely state
A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...
of
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
.
Hospitality business
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Chitrangada
1967 births
Living people
Scindia dynasty of Gwalior
People from Gwalior