A royal affair: Jaipur’s Princess Gauravi Kumari balances tradition with modernity

(October 28, 2023) Polo matches, race cars, luxury holidays and Fashion Weeks – welcome to the opulent world of India’s young royals. Making her presence felt in global upper crust circles is 23-year-old Princess Gauravi Kumari of Jaipur, who like the rest of India’s blue-blooded elite, balances tradition and modernity as she juggles high society life with the responsibilities of her title. Currently running the show at the Princess Diya Kumari Foundation (named after her mother, the founder), she works to train disadvantaged girls and women in handicraft making and provides scholarships to bright young students.

Princess Gauravi Kumari is the great-granddaughter of Man Singh II and the sister of Maharaj Padmanabh Singh, the 303rd descendant of the Jaipur royal family. Her mother, Princess Diya Kumari serves as an MP from Rajsamand and is the BJP State General Secretary for Rajasthan, while her brother, who heads the royal household, is a global style icon and a top-notch polo player who plays for the Indian team when he isn’t tending to his royal duties.

 

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New York Minute

After graduating from the famed Mayo College in Ajmer, Princess Gauravi Kumari headed to New York University where she majored in Media and Communication. “I absolutely loved my boarding school, I give it so much credit for shaping me,” she said. “And NYU was such an independent space to be in too. In both, I was treated just like one of the other girls and I honestly enjoyed that.”

The Global Indian made the most of her time in NYC, interning at the New York-based magazine, Paper, the top-tier lifestyle publication that also happened to be behind the controversial photos of Ranveer Singh. “Micky Boardman was my boss and we had such a great learning experience with him,” she says, adding, “I actually liked the Ranveer cover too.”

le Bal des Débutantes

In 2017, at the Shangri-La Hotel, Paris, Princess Gauravi made her entry on the global social circuit at the 25th anniversary of the pretigious le Bal. Gauravi was joined by 21 débutantes, including Ava Philippe, the daughter of actor Reese Witherspoon, Cecily Lasnet, great-granddaughter of the 11th Duke of Devonshire and the Royals from Luxembourg. Her brother, Maharaja Padmanabh Singh, escorted Ava Philippe, while Princess Gauravi’s cavalier (a term used to refer to the male escort or partner of the debutante) was the prince of Luxembourg.

Every year, le Bal des Débutantes, one of the world’s most sought-after soirees, debuts around 20 young women and their cavaliers into global high society. Held in Paris, the star-studded charity event is attended by royals, business tycoons and A-list celebrities from around the world. The cavaliers wear a white tie, while top couture houses line up to dress the débutantes. A seat at the table for this high-profile charity event comes with a whopping fee of 100,000 euros and the approval of its iconic founder, Ophelie Renouard. The money raised is dedicated to a charitable cause.

The Princess Diya Kumari Foundation  

Alongside attending debutante balls and elite fashion events, Princess Gauravi Kumari is intent on living her life with purpose. The fruits of this can be seen at the City Palace in Jaipur, where dozens of rural women are hard at work, trained and employed by the Princess Diya Kumari Foundation. It came about in 2013, when Princess Diya was serving as the MLA in Sawai Madhopur. “The women of the community were constantly asking my mother for help as they needed a mode of income and employment. So, my mother started the foundation with the idea of supporting women,” says Princess Gauravi. The PDKF began with a skill-building unit in Sawai Madhopur, meant to train women in stitching and craft techniques.

 

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When Princess Gauravi returned from NYU in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and witnessed the plight of women artisans who had become associated the foundation, she decided to join hands with her mother. Life was at a standstill then and the rural women were struggling to make ends meet. “I started coming here to see whatever little we could do and that’s how we started making masks that retailed on platforms like Ajio and Myntra,” Princess Gauravi recalls. It seemed like the obvious thing to do, and would become the inception of the PDKF label. The women had already been trained to stitch and sew and “the idea was for us to guide them to create more complicated silhouettes and help hone their design sensibilities.”

PDKF grew quickly, soon occupying space in the City Palace and setting up its headquarters in Badal Mahal. Around seven PDKF centres are spread across Rajasthan, for training and upskilling women. Although textiles and handicrafts remain their mainstay, the foundation also offers short-term courses on health, education, computer literacy, beautician work, tourists guides and self defence, too.

Where high fashion meets Rajasthani tradition

The City Palace remains the headquarters for PDKF’s textile work, with which Princess Gauravi is most closely involved. The Palace museum also houses the PDKF’s first retail space. Here, rural women trained and employed by PDKF create a savvy fusion of modern fashion and ancient textile traditions, overseen by Princess Gauravi and her collaborator, the Parisian socialite and designer Claire Deroo. “We wanted to match block-printing with today’s world, and create relevant designs,” Princess Gauravi says. Together, they make contemporary designs fused with Rajasthani traditions, from blockprint to gota patti. PDKF creates a range of fashionable dresses, tops, shirts and Indian attire for men, women and children. They do a line of accessories too, from crochet bags to scrunchies.

They’re known for their blockprint dresses – “Blockprinting is our most popular technique,” Princess Gauravi says. “We do some beautiful clothes inspired by Jaipur’s frescoes and motifs. She also likes lac bangles, a “struggling industry” she is working to revive. “The famous Jaipur minakari work on jewellery is always in style,” she adds. Their Jaipur-themed t-shirts are also quite popular.

 

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All this is proudly on display at the PDKF stores, both online and offline – another brainchild of Princess Gauravi, who opened up the first retail space in the City Palace museum. In 2020, she launched in the e-commerce space, and expanded the existing physical store too. “The store needed an update, we needed to give the women a bigger and possibly international platform,” Gauravi believes. “I’ve learned so much working with the women at the foundation,” she adds. “It’s a very different sort of work experience as everyone comes from different backgrounds. It was challenging, but the ladies made it so easy for me.”

Royal hospitality in the Pink City

Princess Gauravi, along with her brothers Pacho and Maharaj Padmanabh Singh, is also involved in restoration efforts in their beloved home city. They have listed a section of the City Palace up on Airbnb. In November 2019, the Gudliya Suite at City Palace was thrown open to tourists on the popular travel lodging platform. Maharaj Padmanabh Singh is the first royal to offer his palace as a homestay. Even the proceeds raised from this go to the PDKF. According to Airbnb, guests can book the luxurious suite, which, until now, had been used by the royals and their special guests. It comes with its own lounge, kitchen, bathroom and private, indoor swimming pool and is priced at sizeable $8000 per night.

Through her involvement with the Princess Diya Kumari Foundation, her fusion of high fashion with Rajasthani tradition, and her initiatives to bring the glory of the Pink City’s to the world, Princess Gauravi Kumari’s embodies the evolution of royal responsibility in the 21st century. As a scion of the Jaipur royal family, she has not only upheld her legacy but has also forged a path that resonates with a new generation, making a difference in the lives of many and charting a promising future for both herself and those she seeks to uplift.

• Follow Princess Gauravi Kumar on Instagram.