Padmanabh Singh


Padmanabh Singh is a polo player and member of the former ruling family of Jaipur State, in present-day Rajasthan, India.

Personal life

Singh was born in July 1998. He has a sister and a brother. His parents were Diya Kumari, the only daughter of Bhawani Singh, and Narendra Singh, the son of a member of staff who worked for Bhawani Singh. Their marriage, which was characterised as a member of the former royal family of Jaipur State in Rajasthan, India, marrying the lowly son of an employee, was seen as a social mismatch and caused much angst at the time. When the couple drifted apart, Bhawani Singh, who had himself opposed the marriage but then officiated in a low-key ceremony, adopted Padmanabh Singh as his heir in 2002.
Upon the death of Bhawani Singh in 2011, Padmanabh was informally "crowned" as the Maharaja of Jaipur, although such royal titles were legally abolished in India decades earlier. Officially under the guardianship of his maternal grandmother at the time of his assumption of the role, he gained the sole responsibility of his family estate upon reaching the age of 18.
Singh was educated at Mayo College in Ajmer and at Millfield School in Somerset, UK.

Polo

Like his grandfather, Bhawani Singh, and great-grandfather, Man Singh II, Padmanabh is an accomplished polo player. He began playing competitive polo in 2015 in England and has been a member of Guards Polo Club. In 2017, he led an Indian national team at Hurlingham Park in what was the first visit to the venue by an Indian team in over 70 years. His grandfather had led the last successful Indian polo tour of the UK.