The Maharajah of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh (1900-38) is one of the most flamboyant Maharajahs India ever had.In addition to his 20 Rolls Royce cars, he was also a ladies man.He married 10 wives, including 4 sister from Himachal and fathered nearly 100 children. In addition he was one of the rare breed of rulers who seduced an English girl from Simla.It is rumored that she was the daughter of Lord Kitchner, Commander In Chief , Indian Army. Lord kitchner was incensed at this seduction and banned the Maharajah from Simla.The maharajah went one better and built his own hill station at Chail. It is a lovely place and rivals Simla in every aspect. The charm of the Maharajah was evident as his elopement with the English girl reveals. He was handsome and had a magnetic personality.
One other facet of Bhupinder Singh is not that well known and that concerns his meetings with Adolf Hitler, in 1935. Hitler as we all know was the dictator of Germany and a man with a magnetic personality. He was to have a 10 minute meeting with Bhupinder Singh, but the meeting went so well that it continued for over an hour.The maharajah was also invited to Lunch with Hitler the next day. This invitation must be seen in the background, that Hitler rarely invited Asians for his lunches.Remember he kept Subhas Bose waiting for many weeks before he agreed to meet him? Hitler was obviously impressed with Bhupinder Singh
This was not all as Hitler presented a Maybach luxury car to the maharajah. this showed his appreciation of Bhupinder Singh. Hitler presented only 3 cars to Asian rulers and Bhupinder Singh was one of them.The British were indeed suspicious !
The car remained with the Patiala family till 1957 and then was gifted away, but this episode of Hitler presenting a car to Mahrajah Bhupinder Singh is a incident that cannot be forgotton.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete