“Maharajah Duleep Singh” by Baron Marochetti (1805-1867)

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Maharajah Duleep Singh (1838-1893)

Baron Marochetti (1805-1867)

1857

Marble

Osborne House (Durbar Corridor)

Isle of Wight

Duleep Singh's bust was commissioned by Queen Victoria as a birthday gift for Prince Albert in 1856, but the coloured version (similar to the coloured bust of the Princess Gouramma of Coorg) did not suit the Queen, and Marochetti produced this white marble one to replace it. [Commentary continued below.]

Photograph and text by Jacqueline Banerjee

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The Prince's story is well known. Deprived in childhood of all claims to his princely state, and all its properties (including specifically the Koh-i-Noor diamond) he was looked after in Lahore, became a Christian, and eventually settled in England. Here he became a favourite of the Queen. He is shown here wearing a miniature of her which was originally given to his father by the then Governor-General of India, Lord Auckland (see Marsden 163). It was Duleep Singh who, having been allowed to hold the fabulous diamond which the British had taken from his state, relinquished it to the Queen as if presenting it to her legitimately rather than as a spoil of conquest (see Anand 244-47). Later he would disappoint the Queen by planning to claim back his lost state; but he died "penniless and alone in a shabby Parisian hotel" (Anand 268).

Related Material

Bibliography

Anand, Anita. "The Jewel in the Crown." In Ko-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Famous Diamond.” by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand. London: Bloomsbury, 2017.

Marsden, Jonathan, ed. (and author of this entry). Victoria & Albert: Art & Love. London: Royal Collection Publications, 2010.

Created 8 September 2017