---
title: "Reclaiming the Throne: The Displaced Legacy of Punjab’s Last Princesses at Kensington"
url: https://projectchintan.com/article/reclaiming-the-throne-the-displaced-legacy-of-punjab-s-last-princesses-at-kensin-loyps
publisher: Project Chintan
author: Project Chintan Newsroom
published: 2026-07-31T07:46:13.000Z
modified: 2026-07-31T10:01:50.755Z
language: en-IN
---

# Reclaiming the Throne: The Displaced Legacy of Punjab’s Last Princesses at Kensington

A new exhibition at Kensington Palace examines the lives of Princesses Sophia, Catherine, and Bamba Duleep Singh. The curated collection of personal artifacts maps their transition from exiled royalty to political activists and humanitarian figures within the British Empire.

## Key takeaways

- The exhibition explores the lives of Sophia, Catherine, and Bamba Duleep Singh, daughters of the last Sikh Maharaja of Punjab.
- Princess Sophia became a prominent suffragette and Red Cross nurse, using her royal visibility to campaign for women's rights.
- Princess Catherine provided a safe haven for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and maintained a lifelong queer partnership.
- Items belonging to Maharani Jind Kaur highlight the British government's restrictive conditions on returning royal property.

## The Anatomy of Displacement

In the very halls where the British Crown orchestrated the dissolution of the Sikh Empire, a new historical inquiry has opened. The exhibition focuses on the three daughters of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the final ruler of Punjab, who was coerced into surrendering his kingdom and the Koh-i-Noor diamond at age 10. These women—Sophia, Catherine, and Bamba—occupied a precarious social vacuum, raised as wards of Queen Victoria yet stripped of their ancestral sovereign rights. Their story is now told through physical remnants: silk garments, correspondence, and photographs that document a life suspended between two continents.

## Sartorial Resistance and Private Sovereignty

Visual evidence in the collection reveals how the sisters quietly challenged Victorian expectations. Curator Polly Putnam and historian Mishka Sinha highlight a portrait of Princess Catherine where she wears earrings held by silk threads rather than piercings, circumventing British social codes for young girls while maintaining her South Asian aesthetic. While their public lives remained polished, their private choices were radical. Key objects on display include: - Maharani Jind Kaur’s 1863 portrait, paired with gold and pearl jewelry returned to her under the condition she never re-enter India. - Maharaja Duleep Singh’s purple velvet evening jacket, featuring intricate gold cuff embroidery. - Personal items belonging to Sophia, including a silver cigarette lighter and ivory cuticle cutters.

## Three Paths of Defiance

The exhibition delineates the distinct ways the sisters navigated their exile. Princess Sophia transitioned from a socialite to a militant suffragette, famously photographed selling activist literature outside Hampton Court Palace. During World War I, she served as a Red Cross nurse, yet maintained a deep connection to her roots, ultimately requesting her ashes be returned to Lahore.

Princess Catherine’s resistance was characterized by a long-term, queer domestic partnership with her German governess, Lina Schäfer, and her clandestine humanitarian work. Evidence shows she acted as a guarantor for at least 10 Jewish refugees escaping the Nazi regime. Meanwhile, Princess Bamba chose a literal return, moving back to Lahore to reconnect with the Punjab her father lost, illustrating that identity for the displaced is rarely a finished project but an ongoing negotiation of memory and location.

Source: The Hindu – Entertainment

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Canonical: https://projectchintan.com/article/reclaiming-the-throne-the-displaced-legacy-of-punjab-s-last-princesses-at-kensin-loyps
Reported from: The Hindu – Entertainment