SolomonL12 at 22:53, 3 March 2026

2026-03-03T22:53:43Z

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{{Short description|Indian princess}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
| consort = yes
| name = Queen Amrit Kaur
| title = Queen Consort of Mandi<br>Princess of Kapurthala
| titletext =
| more =
| image = Maharani Amrit Kaur of Mandi.png
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Queen Amrit Kaur in 1924

| succession = Queen Consort of Mandi
| reign = 8 February 1923 – 15 April 1948

| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1904
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1948|11|19|1904|||df=yes}}
| death_place = No. 42 [[Kensington Palace Gardens]], [[Kensington]], London
| burial_date =
| burial_place =
| spouse = [[Joginder Sen|Joginder Sen I of Mandi]]<br>(m. 1923, sep. 1933 – 1948; her death)
| issue = Yashodan Singh, Crown Prince of Mandi<br>Princess Nirvana Devi, Princess of Bilkha
| full name =
| native_lang1 = 
| native_lang1_name1 = 
| house =
| house-type =
| royal house =
| dynasty =
| father = [[Jagatjit Singh|Jagatjit Singh I of Kapurthala]]
| mother = Kanari Kaur
| religion =
| occupation =
| signature_type =
| signature =
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| module =
}}
[[Rani]] [[Shri]] '''Amrit Kaur''' [[Sahib]]a of [[Mandi, Himachal Pradesh|Mandi]] (1904–1948)<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/books/review/livia-manera-sambuy-in-search-of-amrit-kaur.html |title=The Life of an Indian Princess, Cloaked in Mystery|author=Akemi Johnson|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=2023-03-12 |access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref> was the only daughter of [[Jagatjit Singh]] Sahib Bahadur and his fourth wife, Rani Kanari Sahiba. Jagatjit reigned as [[maharaja]] between 1890 and 1947 in [[Kapurthala]], northern [[Punjab]].

Amrit received her education at a progressive girls' boarding school in [[Eastbourne#Education|Eastbourne]], England, where she played tennis, led a five-piece jazz band and acted in plays. She was then sent to Paris. Amrit was given away in marriage in 1923 to the [[Raja]] of Mandi [[Joginder Sen]] Bahadur.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lafayette.org.uk/man8269.html |title=Rani of Mandi, 1924|publisher=The [[James Lafayette|Lafayette]] Negative Archive|date=1924-06-24 |access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref> The couple toured Europe soon after their wedding, and were received in London by King [[George V]] and [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]]. After five months, they returned to [[Mandi, Himachal Pradesh|Mandi]], India, and the couple had a son and a daughter, Tikka Yashodan Singh (born 1923) and Princess Nirvana Devi (born 1929).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://in.pinterest.com/pin/293367363217960948/|title=Rani Amrit Kaur Sahib of Mandi with her two children|access-date=2013-03-19|website=in.pinterest.com|author=Ray Steward}}</ref> In an interview by the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' in 1927, Amrit expressed determination to fight for the poorest and most marginalised women.<ref name=WSJ /> When her husband took a second wife, Amrit left India and her children for Paris in 1933 and never returned.<ref name=NYT />

Kaur spent some time in the United States before returning to Paris just as [[World War II]] broke out.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://thewire.in/books/the-indian-princess-who-was-captured-by-the-germans-during-world-war-ii|title=The Indian Princess Who Was Captured by the Germans During World War II|author=Butool Jamal|magazine=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]]|location=India|date=9 March 2023|access-date=26 March 2023}}</ref> She was arrested on 8 December 1940 by the [[Gestapo]] in [[Paris in World War II|occupied Paris]] "on the accusation of having sold her jewelry to help [[Jews]] leave" France and imprisoned in the [[Ilag#Besançon|internment camp Besançon]].<ref name=WSJ>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-search-of-amrit-kaur-review-portrait-of-a-doomed-princess-1ed1891b|url-access=subscription|title=''In Search of Amrit Kaur'' Review: Portrait of a Doomed Princess|author=[[Tunku Varadarajan]]|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=2023-03-17|access-date=2023-03-19}}</ref> Amrit's father wrote to the [[British Foreign Office]] and to [[Marshal Pétain]], asking for help in obtaining her release. The Germans offered to exchange Amrit for one of their spies imprisoned in India, but a British official decided that her repatriation was "not of sufficient political importance" to justify such a deal.<ref name=WSJ /> Kaur died in London in 1948.<ref name=NYT /> The first female Indian cabinet minister, [[Amrit Kaur]], was her father's cousin.{{fact|date=April 2023}}

== Legacy ==
In 2022, an Italian journalist for the ''[[Corriere della Sera]]'', Livia Manera Sambuy, wrote a biography, ''Il segreto di Amrit Kaur'', that was published in English as ''[[In Search of Amrit Kaur]]'' in 2023.<ref>{{cite book|last=Manera Sambuy|first=Livia|title=In Search of Amrit Kaur: A Lost Princess and Her Vanished World|translator=Todd Portnowitz|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|year=2023|isbn=9780374715724}} Originally {{cite book|last=Manera Sambuy|first=Livia|author-mask=0|title=Il segreto di Amrit Kaur|language=it|year=2022|publisher=Feltrinelli|isbn=9788807035128}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{YouTube|z-ni0WUHyTo|The Mystery of an Indian Princess in Nazi-Occupied France}}, interview with Livia Manera Sambuy (in English)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaur, Amrit}}
[[Category:1904 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Kapurthala]]
[[Category:Indian female royalty]]
[[Category:Indian women in war]]
[[Category:Expatriates from British India]]
[[Category:Expatriates in France]]
[[Category:Women in war 1900–1945]]
[[Category:Indian women in World War II]]

Amrit Kaur of Mandi - Revision history

SolomonL12 at 22:53, 3 March 2026