Maharani Gayatri Devi: The Bold & Betiful Who Lived Her Life On Her Own Terms

Contents:

• STUNNG FACTS ABOUT GAYATRI DEVI, THE LOST MAHARANI
• GAYATRI DEVI HERANCE: HERE IS A SIMPLIFIED BREAKDOWN OF THE PLEX DISPUTE
• BOLD & BETIFUL, RAJMATA GAYATRI DEVI DEFIED CONVENTN & LIVED LIFE ON HER OWN TERMS
• REMEMBERG THE RAJMATA OF JAIPUR: 10 FACTS ABOUT MAHARANI GAYATRI DEVI
• GAYATRI DEVI’S GRANDCHILDREN HER LEGAL HEIRS: DELHI HC
• GAYATRI DEVI BGRAPHY
• A BATTLE OF WILLS: GAYATRI DEVI'S £250M LEGACY
• GAYATRI DEVI’S GRANDKIDS LOSE LONG LEGAL BATTLE TO HER HER PROPERTI

STUNNG FACTS ABOUT GAYATRI DEVI, THE LOST MAHARANI

Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls' School Jaipur has a buildg lled the 'Maharaja Jagat Sgh Wg' as a tribute to Jagat Sgh. This b of romantic rebelln ed an immediate high society uproar, and by the time Gayatri me to the world 1919, still hadn’t lmed down.

At the time, the royal fay Cooch Behar were liberal and dulgent wh their children, but no one took to eedom que like Gayatri. Nicknamed “Jai, ” at 21 years old he was already one of the foremost polo players the world—and although Gayatri had already met the lik of Prce Aly Khan and Douglas Fairbanks Sr., she was particularly starstck by the handsome and athletic ler. While Gayatri sttted around the Maharaja and tried her bt to act like an adult, she end up gettg to a mortifyg suatn.

GAYATRI DEVI HERANCE: HERE IS A SIMPLIFIED BREAKDOWN OF THE PLEX DISPUTE

While Jai had been dulgent wh the children on his vis and let them w at tennis gam and other activi, the overnfint Gayatri assumed she was jt that good, and that’s why she won. Gayatri may have still been very unrage, but that didn’t stop the Maharaja om noticg her blossomg good looks this time around.

Jai had been eyeg her all trip, and after he won the India Polo Associatn Champnship, Gayatri’s mother promised him “anythg you want ” as a iendly prize. He turned right to Gayatri, who had been wag on the sil, and said he wanted her—jt her—to e to dner wh him that very night.

BOLD & BETIFUL, RAJMATA GAYATRI DEVI DEFIED CONVENTN & LIVED LIFE ON HER OWN TERMS

For one, their home liv uldn’t have been more different: Jai’s other two wiv both strictly practiced purdah, where women hid om view and kept themselv separate om men, while Gayatri enjoyed an pennt upbrgg that chafed agast the very tradns. Thkg she already knew, Jai broached the subject wh the dowager, who immediately grew nfed and sisted Gayatri had told her nothg.

Both Gayatri and her mother were on edge around the official royal fay, wh the dowager fearg hurt feelgs on all sis if her dghter went through wh the marriage.

After a sleepls night where Gayatri threatened aga and aga to n to her love’s si only to have her mother stop her, the fay fally got another telegram. After Jai’s bsh wh ath, the uple fast-tracked their marriage plans, ignorg the ntued prottatns of everyone Gayatri’s fay, now cludg not jt her mother but her olr siblgs, too.

REMEMBERG THE RAJMATA OF JAIPUR: 10 FACTS ABOUT MAHARANI GAYATRI DEVI

Her mother, apparently feelg sperate, snapped that Gayatri was the “newt addn to the Jaipur nursery, ” while her sister Ila lled her “spels” whenever she was around her fiancé.

GAYATRI DEVI’S GRANDCHILDREN HER LEGAL HEIRS: DELHI HC

Gayatri’s brother had grown close to Jai himself over the years, and he seemed a me jealo that his sister had ptured his BFF’s heart. Jt bare weeks before her 21st birthday, Gayatri married her Prce Charmg somethg that was both a fairy tale weddg and a huge extravaganza. Once Calcutta, the newlyweds elected to spend a night at Gayatri’s childhood home—only, the moment she stepped down om her transport, she knew nothg was ever gog be the same.

Aga actg unr the sway of purdah, her Jaipur attendants immediately hered any male servants out of her sight, even though, as Gayatri remembered, “I had known most of them all my life.

GAYATRI DEVI BGRAPHY

Even her faiar surroundgs, Gayatri uld feel how different thgs were now, and she mt have worried she ma a mistake. Shortly after the honeymoon, Gayatri had to face a dread task: To meet Jai’s send wife Jo for the first time sce she had married the Maharaja. Although Gayatri’s new iend Jo was only three years olr than her and morn by many of the culture’s standards, Jo also uldn’t even let a doctor exame her, stead needg to e her maids to act as go-betweens while the medic stood the halls.

Wh Jai away and his send wife Jo tied up wh funeral arrangements, Gayatri was left to look after the gaggle of children around the palace, all while tryg to make their Christmas Eve as mimally morbid as possible. Still bouncg her toddler on her leg, Gayatri got word that her brother Indraj had passed—and once more, was no ordary mise.

In the 1960s, the betiful Gayatri Devi cid she wanted to stop merely beg a sociale and start enterg the enzied ay of polics India. In 1968, her beloved mother passed at the age of 76, and although Gayatri was due to vis her on her athbed, she had to lay her flight by one day—the very day that Indira Devi passed.

A BATTLE OF WILLS: GAYATRI DEVI'S £250M LEGACY

As Gayatri’s hband Jai entered his late 50s, his body started slowg down and he even suffered a d heart attack.

The next days passed a blur of tears and nsolatn for Gayatri, as sympathi poured om everyone om Prce Philip to Jai’s old garner.

GAYATRI DEVI’S GRANDKIDS LOSE LONG LEGAL BATTLE TO HER HER PROPERTI

In her memoirs, Gayatri herself uld barely discs her feelgs durg this time, and when she watched om her wdow as Jai’s funeral pyre went up, she remembered that “grief seized me almost like a physil spasm. In the middle of The Emergency, ernment officials shockgly had Gayatri arrted, cg false accatns of illegal tax activi.

And former Maharani or not, they hardly gave her special treatment: Gayatri spent five months the notor Tihar Jail, one of the largt prison plex the world. After a youth the spotlight, the widowed Gayatri spent her fal years largely secln, avoidg polics entirely and attendg only the most exclive parti—and even then, only when she felt like .