Meghrajji III

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Surendranagar
In office
1967–1971

HH Shri Shaktimant Jhaladhipati Mahamandleshwar Maharana Sriraj Maharaja Sir Shri Mayurdwajsinhji Meghrajsinhji III Ghanshyam Sinhji Bahadur,

British Indian Empire
.

Early life

Maharaja Meghrajji III was born on 3 March 1923 at Sundar Villas,

Millfield School in Somerset and then the Heath Mount School in Hertfordshire.[1] He then studied at Haileybury College[2]
before returning to India just prior to succeeding his father as Maharaja.

Maharaja of Dhrangadhra-Halvad

Upon the death of his father in 1942, Mehghrajji succeeded him as Maharaja. He continued his education at

Poona (now Pune). During his reign, he served as the Patron of Talukdari Girassia College and of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. From 1945 to 1947, he was a member of the Standing Committee of the Chamber of Princes
.

Meghrajji's reign proved to be a short one, as when independence came to India in 1947, Meghrajji signed an

Kathiawad and into the Union of Saurashtra
just a month later.

Politician and academic

From 1948 to 1952, Meghrajji served as Uprajpramukh (Deputy

Surendranagar
, as Member of Parliament from 1967 to 1971. Working to keep the tradition of royal India's monarchies alive, Meghrajji simultaneously held the chair of Intendant-General for the Consultation of Rulers of Indian States in Concord for India until 1971.

In the 1950s, Meghrajji studied at

Ruskin School of Drawing and at the Institute for Social Anthropology
at Oxford.

Personal life

In 1943, Meghrajji married Maharani Shrimati Sri Rajni Brijraj Kunverba Sahiba of Jodhpur. The couple had three sons:

  • Sodhsalji Shatrujitdev Sahib, Yuvaraja of Dhrangadhra-Halvad, who succeeded him to the Maharaja Raj Sahib of Dhrangadhra-Halvad throne
  • Dr. Jayasinhji Jawahirdev Sahib
  • Siddhrajsinhji Gautama Deo Sahib

Later life

Since 1966, he had served as the President of

Royal Asiatic Society and of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. He was also a member of the Cricket Club of India and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
.

Death

The Maharaja died of complications of old age at Dhrangadhra on 1 August 2010, aged 87. He was succeeded by his eldest son Sodhsalji Shatrujitdev, the heir and titular Maharaja to the throne of Dhrangadhra-Halvad. He was the last surviving member of any grade of the Order of the Indian Empire.

Awards

References

  1. S2CID 145707095
    .
  2. ^ "His highness, the last of India's pre-partition rulers". The Sydney Morning Herald. 10 September 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b "No. 38161". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1947. p. 7.
  4. Gazette of India
    . 14 August 1948.

External links

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