A RARE LETTER FROM THE MAHARAJA OF LAHORE DULEEP SINGH (1837-1893, Maharajah of Lahore from 1843 to 1849)

Autograph Letter Signed 'Duleep Singh' to "Dear Duke" saying that "The Maharani does not go to Balls but it will give me great pleasure to accept your and the Duchess's kind invitation for Wednesday the 2nd of July ...", 2 sides 8vo., Claridge's Hotel headed paper, 20th June

Following the Sikh wars the young Maharajah was deposed and given a pension of £40,000, later exchanged for one of £25,000 plus advances for the purchase of an estate in England. His shooting parties at Elveden were famous, but he overspent and in 1882 asked the Government for help, alleging compensation due for private estates in the Punjab and for the Koh-i-Nor diamond, formerly in his family and given by the East India Company to Queen Victoria in 1850. His demand rejected, he set out for the Punjab, but was detained as a guest at the Residency at Aden and not allowed further. Thereafter he stayed for a while in Russia, hoping for help in his claim, finally settling in Paris on his pension without returning to England.
Maharani Bamba, Lady Duleep Singh (born Bamba Müller, 1848-1887), was the Egyptian wife of H.H. Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh. She was brought up by Christian missionaries, she married Sir Duleep Singh and became Maharani Bamba. Her transformation from illegitimate girl, born to a German father and Ethiopian mother, living in a Cairo mission to a Maharani living a life of luxury with the "Black Prince of Perthshire" has been compared to the "Cinderella" story.

Item Date:  1873

Stock No:  40849