Duleep Singh

This article is about Maharaja Duleep/Dalip Singh. For other persons with similar names, see Dalip Singh (disambiguation). For other uses, see The Black Prince (disambiguation).

Duleep Singh
King of the Punjab
Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh in 1875, aged 37
Maharaja of Punjab
Reign15 September 1843 – 29 March 1849
PredecessorSher Singh
SuccessorEmpire abolished,
(Henry Lawrence as Governor of Punjab)
RegentsMaharani Jind Kaur
Maharaja of Kashmir
PredecessorSher Singh
SuccessorGulab Singh
Wazir (Vizier)
Born6 September 1838
Lahore, Sikh Empire (present-day Punjab, Pakistan)
Died22 October 1893(1893-10-22) (aged 55)
Paris, French Third Republic (present-day France)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1864; died 1887)​
Ada Douglas Wetherill
​
​
(m. 1889)​
Issue
By Bamba Müller:
By Ada Wetherill:
  • Princess Pauline Alexandra Duleep Singh
  • Princess Ada Irene Beryl Duleep Singh
HouseSukerchakia
FatherMaharaja Ranjit Singh
MotherMaharani Jind Kaur
Religionby birth Sikhism (1838—1853)
later Christianity (1853—1886)
reverted to Sikhism (1886—his death)
SignatureDuleep Singh's signature

Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, GCSI (6 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), also spelled Dalip Singh,[1] and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire",[2] was the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son, the only child of Maharani Jind Kaur.[3]

He was placed in power in September 1843, at the age of five, with his mother ruling on his behalf, and after their defeat in the Anglo-Sikh War, under a British Resident. He was subsequently deposed by the British Crown, and thereafter exiled to Britain at age 15 where he was befriended by Queen Victoria, who is reported to have written of the Punjabi Maharaja: "Those eyes and those teeth are too beautiful".[4] The Queen was godmother to several of his children.[5] He died at 55, living most of his final years in the United Kingdom.[6][7][8]

His mother had effectively ruled when he was very young and he managed to meet her again on 16 January 1861, in Calcutta and return with her to the United Kingdom.[9] During the last two years of her life, his mother told the Maharaja about his Sikh heritage and the Empire which once had been his to rule. In June 1861, he was one of the first 25 Knights in the Order of the Star of India.[10]

  1. ^ His name has several alternative spellings. Among them are Dhulip, Dulip, Dhalip, Dhuleep and Dalip, but he used Duleep when writing it himself, although Dalip is the conventional spelling for the Punjabi name. Official British letters and documents sometimes refer to him as Dalip the Ultimate.
  2. ^ Dalip Singh – website Britannica.com
  3. ^ "The Black Prince of Perthshire". The Scotsman. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  4. ^ Eton, the Raj and modern India; By Alastair Lawson; 9 March 2005; BBC News.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference first Sikh settler was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Freeman, Henry. East India Company, Beginning to End.
  7. ^ Wild, Antony. East India Company: trade and Conquest.
  8. ^ William, Dalrymple (4 March 2015). "The East India Company: The original corporate raiders". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  9. ^ E Dalhousie Login, Lady Login's Recollections, Chapter 14, Smith Elder, 1916
  10. ^ "No. 22523". The London Gazette. 25 June 1861. p. 2622.