![]() ![]() Sophia adored, mentored and protected little Catherine, known as "Drovna" (Sophia's own middle name was Alexandrovna). Unlike her brothers, she could not marry into European society either. ![]() It might have set off a political earthquake in the Raj had she wed an Indian prince of her rank. Sophia had never had children of her own.Īs the granddaughter of Ranjit Singh, the all-conquering "Lion of the Punjab" who in the late 1840s had seen the Sikh kingdom he founded slip into British hands through treachery and guile as much as conquest, the exiled princess carried the name of a family that still commanded loyalty across much of northern India. During the second World War, already approaching 70 and living safe from the Blitz at Penn in the Chilterns, the Princess Sophia Duleep Singh doted on the little daughter of the beloved housekeeper she called "Bosie". ![]()
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