Jaipur: Charismatic Jaipur royal Rajmata Gayatri Devi, a three-time MP and who was once named as 'World's Ten Most Beautiful Women' by 'Vogue' magazine, died here on Wednesday following a prolonged illness. She was 90.
Gayatri, who became an extremely successful politician, breathed her last at Satokben Durlabh Memorial Hospital where she was readmitted on Tuesday for chest infection after she was discharged a few days ago.
"She recovered from her gastrointestinal problems but on Tuesday she was detected with a lung infection. Her condition deteriorated this morning and she breathed her last at around 1600 hrs," said Dr Subhash Kala, who was attending on her.
It was a tragic irony that Gayatri Devi passed away just a day after actress and beauty Leela Naidu died in Mumbai also after prolonged illness. The prestigious fashion magazine Vogue had named Gayatri Devi as one of the 10 most beautiful women in the world along with Leela.
Married to late Sawai Man Singh II, Gayatri's son Prince Jagat Singh died in 1997 and she is survived by her two grand children Rajkumari Lalitya Kumari and Dev Raj Singh.
Celebrated for her classical beauty and something of a fashion icon in her adulthood, Gayatri Devi won the Lok Sabha seat thrice in 1962, 1967 and 1971.
She stood as the candidate of Swatantra party founded by India's last Governor General C Rajagopalachari against the Congress nominee, an action which infuriated the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who retaliated in 1971 by abolishing the privy purses, and stopping all royal privileges, breaking the treaties agreed upon in 1947.
Gayatri Devi was accused of breaking tax laws, and served five months in Tihar Jail in Delhi during the Emergency. She retired from politics after that experience.
Born on May 23, 1919 as Princess Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar, she was the third Maharani of Jaipur from 1939 to 1970 through marriage to Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. To her friends and family she was more commonly known as Ayesha.
Her father, Prince Jitendra Narayan of Cooch Behar, was the younger brother of the Yuvraj (Crown Prince). Her mother as Princess Indira Raje of Baroda, an extremely beautiful princess and a legendary socialite.
Early in her life, her uncle's death led to her father ascending the throne. Gayatri Devi studied at Shantiniketan and later in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she travelled with her mother and siblings, then studied secretarial skills in London School of Secretaries; Brilliantmont and Monkey Club London.
She was raised in a luxurious palace staffed with five hundred servants. She shot her first panther when she was twelve.
Gayatri Devi has lived a tomboy childhood with her brothers and sisters in the palace of Cooch-Behar, and has had adventurous trips with their elegant mother, the Maharani Indira Devi, to London and the European Continent.
When she married to the Maharaja she entered the glittering life of the City Palace of the pink city, and had to adjust to the unfamiliar customs and to life with wives of other royals.
The Jaipur Royal Family lived a lavish life: hunting in their forests, spending summers in Europe, educating the royal children at elite schools in England, entertaining streams of famous visitors at their desert palaces, and generally living the typically flamboyant life which was normal for Indian royals.
Gayatri Devi had one child, Prince Jagat Singh of Jaipur. She started schools for girls' education in Jaipur, most prominent of which is the Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls Public School. She also promoted the dying art of blue pottery.
There were rumours that she might re-enter politics as late as 1999, when the Cooch Behar Trinamool Congress nominated the 80-year-old Gayatri as their candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, but she did not respond to the offer.