5 Weird Facts About The Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, Man With 365 Wives

Bhupinder Singh was born at the Moti Bagh Palace, Patiala and completed his education at Aitchison College. He succeeded as Maharaja of Patiala upon death of his father, Maharaja Rajinder Singh, on 9 November 1900 at the age of 9. Shortly before his 18th birthday, a Council of Regency ruled in his name until he took partial powers on 1 October 1909, and by the Viceroy of India, the 4th Earl of Minto was invested with full powers on 3 November 1910.

During the First World War, Bhupinder Singh served as Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel, and later on, got promoted as Honorary Major-General in 1918 and Honorary Lieutenant-General in 1931 on the General Staff in France, Belgium, Italy, and Palestine. Apart from representing India at the League of Nations in 1925, he was also the Chancellor of the Indian Chamber of Princes during 1926 and 1938 (10 years). He was also a representative at the Round Table Conference. While he served as the Chancellor of Chamber of Princes from 1926 to 1931, he worked tirelessly for the betterment of his subjects and got many social reforms introduced in Patiala. He is also the Founder of The State Bank of Patiala.

* Bhupinder Singh was born in a Royal Sikh family to Maharaja Rajinder Singh. He married at least 10 times. Apart from his wives, he also had numerous consorts. From those unions, he had 88 children (estimated) of whom at least 53 survived him.

*His desires can be known by the fact that he was the first man in India to own an aircraft, which he bought from the United Kingdom in the first decade of the twentieth century. He had an airstrip specially built for it at Patiala. He also got a unique monorail system built in Patiala, which was known as Patiala State Monorail Train ways.

* He was the proud owner of the world-famous “Patiala Necklace”, which was manufactured by the famous brand Cartier SA. To mark the first visit of Queen Mary to India his wife Maharani Bakhtawar Kaur presented her at the Delhi Darbar of 1911a magnificent necklace on behalf of the Ladies of India. His elder son, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh and younger son Raja Bhalindra Singh played first-class cricket and later served as President of the Indian Olympic Association. Yuvraj played in one Test for India, in 1934.

* He was a renowned sportsman who built the world’s highest cricket pitch at Chali at a height of 2443 m in 1893, which is the highest in the world. He was also known for an exceptional collection of medals, believed to be the world’s largest at the time. According to legend, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh would be driven in a motorcade of 20 Rolls Royce cars.

* In 1930, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh felt a little low at the British Rolls Royce company’s refusal to accept an order from him for a new Rolls Royce car. Such was his power that he ordered new Rolls Royce cars, and put them to hauling garbage, dung and filth in Patiala city. To which the chagrin of the all-powerful Rolls Royce-loving Viceroy and the British ruling establishment quickly prevailed upon the Rolls Royce Company to comply with the Maharaja’s wishes by giving him a new Rolls Royce.