Pratap Singh Rao Gaekwad

Shrimant Maharaja Sir Pratap Singh Rao Gaekwad (29 June 1908 – 19 July 1968), who belonged to the Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas, was the ruling Maharaja of Baroda.

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:

He succeeded to the throne upon the death of his grandfather Sayajirao Gaekwad III in 1939.

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.

In the early 1940s, Pratapsinhrao fell in love with a glamorous married woman, 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.

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

In 1947, British India was partitioned into two independent dominions, and Pratap Singh acceded his state to the Dominion of India.

He went on a 1948 six-week tour of the United States, where he and his second wife were welcomed into the salons of 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.

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 alliances.

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 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.

His father was Fatehsinghhrao Gaekwad and his mother was Padmavati Bai Saheba.

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, 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.

Pratapsinghhrao married twice.

By 1949, Baroda had been merged into India.

Pratap Singh 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.

He was a hedonistic spendthrift who had a tendency to squander his state's money.

Pratap Singh 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, Princess Sita Devi of Pithapuram, 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.