Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The campaign group of twelve worn by Lieutenant-General H.H. Maharaja Sir Hari Singh, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir

India, General Service Medal 1947, 1 clasp, Jammu and Kashmir 1947-48 (Lt. Gen. H.H. Maharaja Sir Har Singh. Indar Mahindar Bahadur) officially impressed naming; India, Independence Medal 1947, this an old replacement for the lost original, naming erased but partially legible to a Captain in the I.A.S.C.; 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Delhi Durbar 1903, silver; Delhi Durbar 1911, silver, fitted with replacement suspension claw; Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; France, Third Republic, Legion of Honour, Grand Officer’s breast badge, silver, silver-gilt and enamels, with rosette on ribbon, original court mounting as worn by the Maharaja, the Durbar medals with contact wear, good fine, the last with enamel damage, otherwise generally very fine (12) £1,500-£2,000

Hari Singh was born on 23 September 1895 at the palace of Amar Mahal, Jammu, the only surviving son of General Raja Sir Amar Singh (1864-1909) the younger son of General Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Ranbir Singh and the brother of Lieutenant-General Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Pratap Singh, the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. Appointed G.C.S.I. in 1933; G.C.I.E. 1929 (K.C.I.E. 1918); G.C.V.O. 1946 (K.C.V.O. 1922).

In 1903, Hari Singh served as a Page of Honour to Lord Curzon at the grand Delhi Durbar. At the age of 13, Hari Singh was dispatched to Mayo College in Ajmer. A year later in 1909, when his father died, the British took a personal interest in his education and appointed Major H. K. Brar as his guardian. After Mayo College the ruler-in-waiting went to the Imperial Cadet Corps at Dehra Dun for military training, imbibing its British upper-crust atmosphere and polishing his English to a high gloss, and by the age of 20 he had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Jammu and Kashmir state forces.

Hari Singh was also a controversial figure due to his involvement in a blackmail scandal by an English prostitute in Paris in 1921, allegedly paying £300,000 to his blackmailers. The issue resulted in a court case in London in 1924 during which the India Office tried to keep his name out of proceedings by arranging for him to be referred to as Mr ‘A’. However, the secret of the Kashmiri Prince and the beautiful blonde quickly became the subject of salacious gossip throughout London society.

Hari Singh succeeded to the throne of Jammu and Kashmir following the death of his uncle, Sir Pratap Singh, in 1925. A moderniser in outlook, he made primary education compulsory in the State and introduced laws prohibiting child marriage. Sir Hari Singh was opposed to the views of both the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League with their communist style two-nation theory. During the Second World War, from 1944-46, Sir Hari Singh was a member of the Imperial War Cabinet.

In 1947, after India gained independence from British rule, Jummu and Kashmir had the option to join either India or Pakistan. Har Singh’s preference was to maintain independence and he played the two countries off against each other, delaying his decision. Being a Muslim majority state it was expected that he should respect the wishes of the population and probably accede to Pakistan. However, following a mutiny of Muslim regiments in Gilgit in October 1947 and an incursion of tribal and regular Pakistani forces, Hari Singh appealed to secular India for help but India would only do so if he acceded the whole of his princely State to India. This he did, signing the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947, and in doing so triggered the Indo-Pakistan War of 1947-48, the first of four conflicts in this region which is still disputed by both countries today. After abdicating in 1949 in favour of his son and heir, Crown Prince Karan Singh, Sir Hari Singh retired to Bombay, where he remained the titular Maharaja of the state until 1952 when the monarchy was abolished by Nehru’s government.

Sir Hari Singh remained in enforced exile in Bombay until his death of a heart attack on 26 April 1961, aged 65. His ashes were cast all over Jummu and Kashmir and immersed in the river Tawi, according to his last wishes.

See Lot 669 for the G.C.S.I. collar chain case specially customised to hold the insignia of the Order with provision for this mounted group of medals.