Meghrajji III
Maharaja of Dhrangadhra (1923-2010)
HH Major Maharana Maharaja Sir Mayurdwajsinhji Meghrajsinhji III Sahib Bahadur, (3 March 1923 – 1 August 2010), popularly known as Meghrajji III was the last ruling Maharaja of Dhrangadhra-Halvad. He was an academic, politician, member of several distinguished academic bodies, and one of the last surviving rulers of the former princely states of the British Raj. He was also the last surviving knight of the Order of the Indian Empire and the last of either of the chivalric orders of the British Indian Empire.
Names and titles
Meghrajji III was officially known as
1923-1942: Patvi Namdar Jhalavrit Maharajkumar Shri Meghrajji Ghanshyamsinjhi Sahib, Yuvraj of Dhrangadhra Halvad
1942-1947: His Highness Shri Shaktimant Jhaladipati Mahamandleshwar Maharana Sriraj Maharaja Mayurdwajsinhji Meghrajji III Ghanshyamsinjhi Sahib Bahadur, Maharaja Raj Sahib of Dhrangadhra Halvad
1947-2010: His Highness Shri Shaktimant Jhaladipati Mahamandleshwar Maharana Sriraj Maharaja Sir Mayurdwajsinhji Meghrajji III Ghanshyamsinjhi Sahib Bahadur, Maharaja Raj Sahib of Dhrangadhra Halvad, KCIE
Early life
Maharaja Meghrajji III was born on 3 March 1923 at Sundar Villas, Dhrangadhra as the second but eldest surviving son of Maharaja Sir Ghanshyamsinjhi Ajitsinhji Sahib Bahadur (1889–1942), the Maharaja of the 13-gun salute state of Dhrangadhra-Halvad and his third wife, Maharani Anand Kunverba Sahiba (1895–1979). He received his earliest education at a local school, then was sent to England, where he first attended Millfield School in Somerset and then the Heath Mount School in Hertfordshire. He then studied at Haileybury College before returning to India just prior to succeeding his father as Maharaja.
Maharaja of Dhrangadhra-Halvad
Upon the death of his father in 1942, Mehghrajji succeeded him as Maharaja. He continued his education at St. Joseph's Academy in Dehra Dun and at the Shivaji Military School in Poona (now Pune). During his reign, he served as the Patron of Talukdari Girassia College and of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
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This entry incorporates text from “Meghrajji III” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.