Sir Jagatjit Singh Bahadur, Maharaja of the princely state of Kapurthala – and Tikka Shatrujit Singh’s great Grandfather, was travelling around the world in the late 19th Century. He was quite a Francophile and loved the Palace of Versailles so much that he ordered his main palace to be modelled after it.
It is said that Jagatjit Singh owned at least 60 pieces of bespoke luggage made especially for him by Louis Vuitton to hold his clothes, swords, turbans, suits, shoes and the elaborate traditional dresses.
The other Royal who was also a Louis Vuitton regular was Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda. Amongst scores of his other purchases, the Baroda ruler got Louis Vuitton to make a Torino suitcase with toiletry accessories in vermeil and ivory, a shoe trunk and a tea case, that proved to be an elegant and practical accompaniment for his hunting expeditions.
Maharaja Hari Singh, the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, who was a polo aficionado, was ordering Louis Vuitton to make special trunks for his clothes and equipment, including one to hold his mallets, in the year 1925.
In the seven months between June and December 1928, Hari Singh had placed an order for 38 pieces of luggage with specific purpose marked for them. For instance, there were special boxes for polo outfits, twelve boxes for drying cigarettes, a shoe-maintenance kit, a toiletries kit that was superimposed on a tea set.
The toiletries kit was uniquely elaborate. It consisted of 50 items in silver and was used to hold products for personal hygiene from brushes to bottles, soaps, and razors. It also served as an extensively layered jewellery box.
Not just travel, Indian royalty were also creating second homes in the international playfields of the rich and famous or in the exclusively secluded places that kept them away from the public eye. Maharani Sita Devi Sahib of Baroda set up a second home in Monaco with her second husband, Maharaja Pratap Singh Gaekwad of Baroda, who was the eighth richest man in the world and the second richest Indian Prince at the time.
London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Switzerland were destinations the Royals travelled to for work, but essentially for pleasure and leisure. Exclusive and luxe addresses such as the Savoy in London, Ritz in Paris, Ritz in London, Hotel Walsherhof in the Swiss ski village of Klosters, Le Meurice and Le Bristol in Paris, Hotel Bristol in Vienna were considered fit for these kings and queens.
A look back into history and into the lives of the Indian Royalty shows how they were adept at blending the Indian spirit with western sensibilities. The Royalty was not only building up a huge aspirational value back home but also creating matchless and enormously successful business opportunities for some of the top class brands globally.
So it can be safely said that the foundation for style, haute living, grand hospitality, luxe brand affiliation, and rich hotel tradition was laid early enough in those years of Imperialdom!