In the twilight of the British Empire in India, as the Princely States faced the challenges of independence and integration into a democratic India, a royal scandal shocked the nation. Maharani Sita Devi, the queen of Baroda, made a dramatic exit from the country, taking with her some of the most valuable jewels from the state treasury — sparking a lengthy legal battle with the newly formed government of India.
A Princess With a Taste for Power and Pearls
Sita Devi was born on May 12, 1917, in Madras to Sri Raja Rao Venkata Kumara Mahipati Surya Rau Bahadur Garu, the Maharaja of Pithapuram, and his wife, Sri Rani Chinnamamba Devi of Mirzapuram. Although she belonged to a relatively minor aristocratic royal lineage, her name would soon become associated with global icons of wealth and scandal. In 1943, while still married to her first husband, Meka Rangaiah Appa Rao Bahadur, the zamindar of Vuyyuru, she met Pratap Singh Gaekwad, the Maharaja of Baroda, at a horse race in Madras, and they fell in love.
To circumvent British Indian laws that prohibited polygamy among royals, she briefly converted to Islam and married the Maharaja, one of the richest men in the world at that time. The British authorities in India disapproved of Sita Devi's marriage to the Maharaja, as it violated anti-bigamy laws established by the Maharaja's own grandfather, which forbade remarriage if the first spouse was still alive. But the Maharaja, who already had a wife and several children, claimed he was not bound by the same laws as his subjects and went ahead with the marriage.
A Bejewelled Life Draped in Diamonds and Emeralds
What followed was a life of unparalleled opulence, rivaling even the most extravagant royals of India. Sita Devi's jewellery collection, which included a remarkable seven-strand natural pearl necklace from Cartier and the Star of the South diamond weighed at over 128 carats, became legendary for its excesses. She also possessed an array of bespoke ornaments crafted by renowned French and American luxury jewellers, like Van Cleef & Arpels and Harry Winston, and often repurposed anklets as necklaces and toe rings as brooches — exemplifying a unique fusion of Indian heritage and Western glamour. But it was her dramatic exit from India that would come to define her legacy.
The Great Escape
As Indian independence neared, many royals, including the Gaekwads, relocated to Europe, reportedly taking with them a vast collection of royal treasures. This cache included not only personal jewels but also items believed to belong to Baroda's state treasury. The Indian government contested this move, arguing that the treasures were not theirs to export. However, the couple, protected by the vagueness of princely privilege and the lack of effective enforcement, managed to retain possession of these valuable items.
In 1951, the Indian government deposed the Maharaja for financial misconduct, forcing the Gaekwads into exile in Europe, beyond the reach of Indian courts. There, Sita Devi hosted lavish parties for European aristocrats and Hollywood celebrities, often arriving in custom Rolls-Royces and adorned in diamonds.
The Indian Wallis Simpson
According to one popular anecdote, in 1953, the Maharani sold a pair of bejeweled anklets to Harry Winston, which were set with precious emeralds and diamonds. These anklets were later reset into a necklace purchased by Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor. The Duchess wore the necklace to a ball at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York in 1957, where Sita Devi remarked that the jewels looked better on her feet. Embarrassed, the Duchess returned the necklace to Harry Winston.
This incident led the Western media to dub Sita Devi "the Indian Wallis Simpson", drawing parallels to the American socialite who had similarly shaken an empire through marriage and scandal. Vogue even recognized her as one of the world's best-dressed women.
A Glittering Legacy and A Murky Inheritance
The glamour of Sita Devi's jet-setting lifestyle faded in her later years. The once-fabled Baroda jewels were auctioned off by Sotheby's and Christie's, disappearing into private collections and museums around the world. After her divorce from the Maharaja in 1956, he lived in London until his death in 1968. Meanwhile, Sita Devi and her son received citizenship of Monaco from Prince Rainier, and she lived between Monaco and Paris for the rest of her life.
Years after Sita Devi's death in 1989, traces of the Baroda treasure began to resurface in different parts of the world. In 1994, the renowned Baroda Pearl Carpet — commissioned in the 19th century by a Hindu Maharaja as an offering for the Prophet's tomb in Medina — was discovered in a Geneva vault and later sold to a Gulf royal for $31 million. Today, it is housed in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. Meanwhile, other missing jewels, including the legendary Star of the South diamond, were traced to private jewelers in Amsterdam, their provenance entangled in decades of exile, inheritance, and discreet transactions.
The Gaekwads remain a lightning rod in the history of India’s princely elite — symbols of immense wealth, scandal, and contested inheritance — celebrated for their extravagance and opulence, yet notorious for their appropriation of state treasures. They symbolize the excesses and the eventual collapse of princely India. As global debates about the repatriation of cultural artifacts intensify, looking back at their story leaves us with a critical question: Who truly owns the legacy of a kingdom that has been dissolved by history?
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