MadaMe Bijoux

Celebrated equally for her beauty and her collection of fabulous jewels, Maharani Sita Devi of Baroda was a style icon unlike any other

Of the many Maharanis and princesses of India, perhaps none is celebrated more for her exquisite jewels as

Maharani Sita Devi Sahib of Baroda. Daughter of the Maharaja of Pithapuram, she met the Gaekwar of Baroda, Maharaja Pratap Singh, in 1943 at the Madras horse races. The

two were wed shortly after she divorced her first husband, the Zamindar of Vuyyuru. It was after that she became a regular star of the international jet-set. Stories of the Maharani’s exquisite taste abound: Tales of expensive furs never worn more than once, of delicately embroidered chiffon saris worn with a multitude of jewels. “This enabled her to enhance her stunning and exotic beauty with numerous equally sublime jewels,” say Alexandra Rhodes and Stefano Papi, authors of 20th Century

Jewelry & The Icons of Style, in which book the queen of Baroda is one of 11 women profiled from across the world. On July 16th, Sotheby’s London, the auction house under whose

gavel the riches of many royal patrons have passed, will auction three small items described as being ‘formerly in the collection of Maharani Sita Devi Sahib of Baroda’. To the informed bidder, lots 412, 413, and 414—a diamond cigarette case, a diamond-and-turquoise ring (both by Van

Cleef & Arpels), and a diamond cocktail watch by Piaget, respectively—are the mere tip of the iceberg. After all, the Maharani possessed far more (the legendary, and now lost, pearls of Baroda being one of her many favourite baubles). “She would often wear several pieces together to great effect. In her younger days in particular, she literally shone in her jewels,” add Rhodes and Papi. However, grandeur must fade, and with

the independence of India and the accession of princely states to the Indian Union, plus the separation of the Maharani from her royal husband, the same jewels that had made Sita Devi famous

now came to her rescue in the time of her need. Secretly selling her jewels, the Maharani lived in London and Paris till 1989, when she passed away after the suicide of her only son, Princie, four years earlier (from which it is said she never recovered). Her sparkling possessions, though, live on,

adorning modern royalty, adding style to newer substance.