A glimpse into the life of the most glamorous maharani and her love of all things extravagantly luxurious Born the daughter of the Maharaja of Pithapuram in Andhra Pradesh and married to another zamindar at an early age, Sita Devis life might have turned out very differently had she not caught the eye of Maharaja Pratap Singh Gaekwar of Baroda. Instead, a day at what was then the Madras Race Course set the ball rolling for a lifestyle of carousing where she went on to set the standard for extravagance. Being married and the father of eight children did not stop the Gaekwad from pursuing the glamorous Sita Devi and the pair proceeded to wed in 1943, in a convoluted series of conversions and ceremonies that flouted anti-bigamy laws and religious practices with gay abandon. And then they set to work their way through a fortune. The Gaekwad was the eighth richest man in the world at the time and his second maharani made it obvious. She loved her jewels and she knew how to capture attention, says Akshay Chavan, a royal enthusiast and amateur historian. At a time when most Indian women and maharanis were photographed with their heads demurely covered, she was often seen at the Waldorf Astoria or The Dorchester, her hair thrown back to show off earrings and necklaces, hands posed so as to show off her bracelets and rings to best effect. Even her cigarette holder was studded with rubies, says Chavan. The royal couple made a splash in the salons of New York during a six-week trip to the United States in 1948, causing the Indian Union to start asking some pesky questions about their finances. They swiftly decamped to their home in Monaco, and took some pretty jewels along to keep them company. The Baroda treasury was later found to be missing several key pieces. Famous among these were the Baroda pearls  an unparalleled seven-strand necklace of priceless Basra pearls, and a three-strand diamond necklace with the Star of the South, a 128.80-carat Pink Brazilian diamond and the English Dresden, a 78.53 carat diamond. While the Indian government was looking for distinctive pieces, the maharani was known to be quietly visiting jewellers like Harry Winston, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, having the settings changed to platinum and astounding even the most jaded of jewellers with her collection of almost 300 pieces. Van Cleef & Arpels were her favourite jewellers and she was fondly known to them as Mrs Brown, because of her dusky skin. Commissioning solid gold tongue cleaners only endeared her to them more, says Chavan. She also famously sold a pair of diamond and emerald anklets to Harry Winston in the 1950s, only to have the diamonds resurface in a choker worn by the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson at a ball. The maharani held her tongue (presumably scraped clean) till so many people exclaimed about the beauty of the necklace that she couldnt bear it any more and was moved to remark that the diamonds had also looked very nice on her feet. A humiliated Duchess returned the necklace to her jeweller. Prominent among her jewels is a two-strand pearl necklace that is believed to have been a part of the Baroda pearls, and set with a Cartier-signed clasp. A Van Cleef & Arpels necklace commissioned in 1950, named the Hindou necklace or the Lotus necklace and made of emeralds and pavé diamonds set in platinum, is also worthy of mention. The royal family of Baroda was one of the first to adopt the precious metal and Chimnabai II, the Gaekwads grandmother, even purchased pieces from Russian nobility after the Revolution. Her husband purchased over a hundred pieces from Jacques Cartier and was also keen on resetting all the royal jewels in platinum, with Cartier, but was dissuaded by local jewellers with the argument that it would look like he was wearing silver. Chimnabai was also grandmother to Maharani Gayatri Devi and is said to have instructed her never to wear emeralds with a green sari, because they look so much better with pink. The royal couple split in 1956 but Sita Devi held onto her title and the lavish lifestyle, spending so extravagantly that she had to discreetly auction off some of her beloved baubles. Princie, her only son with the Gaekwad, was her constant companion on the social circuit. The maharani was also known for her painstaking detail to fashion. She was rumoured to travel with no less than a thousand saris, with coordinating shoes and furs. Her Paris dressing room was reputed to contain thousands of saris, each matched with shoes and a purse. A Monsieur Erigua opened a factory called Saree & Co, to create French chiffon saris. The last order before the maharanis death in 1989 was for 260 exclusive saris. The factory was shuttered upon her passing. Till the very end, the maharani remained faithful to her love of luxury. Subscribe to Verve Magazine or buy the Verve issue on stands now!

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