Prince Victor Albert Jay Duleep Singh

 

Prince Victor Albert Jay Duleep Singh (10 July 1866- June 7, 1918) was the eldest son of Maharani Bamba Müller and Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of Lahore, and of the Sikh Empire, and the grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Biography

Victor Duleep Singh was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he met Lady Anne Blanche Alice Coventry whom he would later marry. In 1887 he joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, getting a special Cadet-ship, and left it in the following December to be commissioned as Lieutenant in the 1st (Royal) Dragoons.

In 1889 he was stationed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a member of the staff of Gen. Sir John Ross, commander of British forces in British North America. In December, he was rumoured to be engaged with Jeanne Turnure, daughter of Lawrence Turnure, a New York banker, after staying in the their New Port home, the previous summer; the rumour was however denied by the banker. In February the following year, he took a three month leave of absence to meet his father in Paris, when rumours of creditors became afloat for the first time. In all he remained part of the Royal Dragoons till 1898, when he resigned.

On the death of his father he succeeded him, as Head of the Royal House of the Punjab, 23 October 1893.

On 4 January 1898, Prince Victor Albert Jay Duleep Singh married Lady Anne Conventry who was eight years younger than he was, the marriage created quite a sensation, as it was the first time, that an Indian prince married an English noble woman, the daughter of George William Coventry, 9th Earl of Coventry. The marriage was made possible primarily due to the intervention of the Prince of Wales, (subsequently Edward VII) the marriage took place at St Peter’s Church, Eaton Square, London, where Queen Victoria was also represented.

He was declared bankrupt by the courts on 4 September 1902, with a debt to the tune of $471,600, despite his $35,000 annual allowance and his wife's income of $10,000. The bankruptcy was attributed to bad investments and gambling, something that plagued him for the rest of his life

He died, without issue, aged 51, on 7 June 1918, and was buried at the Anglican Cemetery above Monte Carlo. Beside him is the grave of his wife who died aged 82, on 2nd July 1956 .