The Maharaja’s Rolls Royce
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
The AGO held its first official photo op for the Maharaja exhibition Tuesday morning. Media were invited to check out the Star of India, a Rolls Royce Phantom II, custom-built in 1934 for His Highness Thakore Sahib Dharmendrasinhji Lakhajiraj of Rajkot (Gujarat).
If you’ve heard of the “Star of India”, it is also the name of 563-carat Star Sapphire. This Rolls Royce Phantom II is considered to be a particularly important. There is even a model kit so you can make your own piece of history!
It is rather beautiful with a unique ochre-saffron colour. The royal family’s motto and state crest is embossed on the doors and side windows. The inscription means “An impartial ruler of men of all faiths.”
Rolls Royce cars were popular with the wealthy set in India. Over 800 were exported to India in first half of the 20th century. In fact, India was the largest market for the Rolls during the interwar period. The BBC recently put together a documentary about the maharajas’ madness for the Rolls, titled The Maharaja’s Motor Car: The Story of Rolls-Royce.
Here is a longer clip from the documentary.
In the 1960s, the car became British-owned and later, was brought to Germany. This year the Rolls Royce Phantom II was on auction again in May and was purchased by the great-grandson of the original owner! This amazing vehicle was not in the original Maharaja exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Instead, after much sleuthing and negotiations, the AGO team was able to intercept it and get it as a loan before the Phantom II returns to India after a half-century abroad.
Neat fact: Mahatma Gandhi also has a connection to Rajkot. His father moved there when he was young to become the Diwan or Prime Minister for the Thakore of Rajkot.
Piali Roy is a Toronto writer with a long-held interest in South Asian culture and history. You can contact her at yourvoice@ago.net.
Tags: Rajkot, Rolls Royce, Rolls Royce Phantom II, Thakore