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Despite his array of interests and commitments the Maharaja Gaj Singh II is essentially a family man who carves out time for his family from his increasingly busy schedules. By earlier standards the Royal Family is small; a compact group of distinctly individualistic persons. Her Highness The Rajmata Krishna Kumari, the Queen Mother, provides a strong cultural binding to the family. The last reigning Maharani of Marwar-Jodhpur (1947-1949) it was she who bore the brunt of the sweeping changes in the first decades of India's independence. It was she too who instilled in her young son his deep and defining sense of duty. A former Member of Parliament, the Rajmata is deeply religious and continues to participate in a myriad of social and religious activities. Her Highness The Maharani Hemlata Rajye, known for her proclivity for fun and laughter, and her generous hospitality, has a serious side to her that makes her devote much time to sharing the Maharaja's responsibilities, whether they be lecturing young women on family planning or touring a drought stricken district. The Rajmata Krishna Kumari Girls Public School in Jodhpur is of special interest and the Maharani has made a significant contribution to the growth of this new institution. The Baiji Lal Sahiba Shivranjani Rajye, the princess, was born in 1974 and educated at the Welham Girls High School, Dehra Dun, Bryanston College, Dorset, and New Hall, Cambridge, where she finished with a Batchelor's Degree in Archaeology and Anthropology. The princess has also studied film making at the New School in New York. Presently in Jodhpur she manages the Maharaja's publishing company, Mehrangarh Publishers. The Yuvraj of Jodhpur, Shivraj Singh, the Crown Prince, was born in 1975 and educated at the Mayo College, Ajmer, Eton College and Brookes, Oxford. After finishing with a degree in Business Administration he experienced working stints with the Schroder's Bank in Geneva and London, and the trading house Jardine in Hong Kong. The Yuvraj has now returned to Jodhpur to assist the Maharaja in his enterprise, particularly in the management of the palace hotel chain. The Yuvraj is a keen polo player and it is largely due to his efforts that Jodhpur has once again become an active center of the sport. At present playing off a handicap of +3 the Yuvraj has played in Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, Singapore, Egypt and England, besides leading the Jodhpur Team to Brazil, France and Kenya. In February,1973 Jodhpur welcomed her new Maharani, Hemlata Rajye, the beautiful and vivacious public school educated princess of Poonch. Bapji, who understood the importance of a traditional, arranged marriage for himself in spite of his western education, had first been sent a portrait of Hemlata's in Oxford. "Worth investigating was what I thought then" he laughs but their first meeting in 1971 in a hotel in Delhi was not a success. "It was a disaster!" they laugh together almost thirty years later, very much in love. It took place in a huge hall which was being partly renovated and the Maharaja of Jodhpur's impeccable manners were not quite apparent as he failed to say "Thank you" to the princess of Poonch when she offered him a plate of biscuits. "What a stuck-up man", thought the furious princess. "To top it all", remembers Bapji, "in walked the Thakur of Pokhran who embarrassed everyone by saying "Aha! I know what's going on!" Hemlata Rajye returned to Dehra Dun determined not to marry the Rathore. "Kis baat ka ghamand?" demanded a neighbor, coincidentally a pensioner who had once represented the Government on Bapji's Minority Council. "Why the arrogance?" Drawing a large circle on the ground with his walking stick the old man continued, "That, my child, is Marwar. And this", he jabbed a little dot near the circle, "is Poonch!" There were two more meetings, the third a long drive without a word exchanged. But they were married in Dehra Dun on 19th February,1973 and have lived happily ever after. It was, of course, a proper Rathore wedding; wild, complete with Langas or desert musicians, dancing girls and drunken brawls including a duel with swords in the lobby of a prominent hotel in New Delhi! "I was so impressed with my husband when, during the actual ceremony, he turned around and asked for Ganga jal, sacred water from the River Ganga. I only found out a few years ago that it was gin and tonic", laughs the Maharani. Thirty years later Hemlata Rajye is very much a part of the land of the Rathores. Not restricted by purdah; the Rajmata's 1971 election campaign was the turning point; she has traveled extensively throughout Marwar and, fluent in Marwari, she enjoys interacting with her husband's people, be it lecturing a group of village women on the need for family planning or school children on the necessity of education. Bapji, Maharaja since he was four, is reserved, slightly aloof. Maharani Sahiba is not and her disarming friendliness and joie de vivre, she enjoys few things more than playing elaborate practical jokes on unsuspecting guests, have infused Umaid Bhawan with warmth and vitality... (The Royal Wedding excerpt from 'The House of Marwar' by Dhananajaya Singh. Roli Books 1994)
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