Frederick Duleep Singh

Crown Prince Frederick Duleep Singh
Crown Prince of Punjab
Head of the Royal House of Punjab
Period 7 July 1918 – 15 August 1926
Predecessor Victor Duleep Singh
Successor None
(House extinct under uterine primogeniture)
Born (1868-01-23)23 January 1868
London, England, United Kingdom
Died 15 August 1926(1926-08-15) (aged 58)
Blo' Norton Hall, Diss, Norfolk, England
Burial Blo' Norton church
Father Sir Duleep Singh
Mother Bamba Müller

Prince Frederick Victor Duleep Singh, MVO, TD, FSA (23 January 1868 – 15 August 1926),[1] also known as Prince Freddy, was a younger son of Sir Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.

Early life

Memorial in St Andrew's church, Blo' Norton

Prince Frederick was born in London as the second or third[2] son of Sir Duleep Singh and Bamba Müller, the former Maharaja and Maharani Duleep of Lahore. He was educated at Eton and Magdalene College, Cambridge where he read History (B.A. 1890; M.A. 1894).[3] At Cambridge, he was a member of the Pitt Club.[4] He was deeply interested in archaeology, contributing articles to various periodicals and became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He wrote Portraits in Norfolk Houses (1929, two volumes). He was East Anglia representative of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and reported on about 50 historic building cases for it.

Career

He lived at Old Buckenham Hall and for 20 years, at Blo' Norton Hall near Thetford. He was a staunch monarchist, possibly due to his father's generous treatment by Queen Victoria, even hanging a portrait of Oliver Cromwell upside-down in his lavatory at Blo' Norton. His collection of Jacobite and Stuart relics (and the Cromwell painting) were presented to Inverness Museum. He gave to the town of Thetford the timber-framed Ancient House (now a museum) together with his collection of portraits.

It was claimed that Prince Freddy was the biological father of an illegitimate son (born in 1888) after having an affair with Miss Goddard, a serving maid at Breckles Hall in Norfolk where he lived.[5]

Prince Frederick served with Yeomanry regiments 1893-1919

  • Appointed 2nd Lieutenant - Suffolk Imperial Yeomanry - 12 August 1893
  • Promoted Lieutenant: 21 July 1894
  • Promoted Captain: 19 August 1898.[6]

In July 1901 Prince Frederick transferred to the Norfolk Yeomanry from the Suffolk Yeomanry and was promoted to the rank of major.[7] He resigned his commission in 1909 but rejoined the Norfolk Yeomanry in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I and was on active service in France for two years and with the General Staff.

Titles, styles and honours

Titles

  • 23 January 1868 – 7 July 1918: His Royal Highness Prince Frederick Duleep Singh of Punjab
  • 7 July 1918 – 15 August 1926: His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederick Duleep Singh of Punjab

Honours

National dynastic honours

National honours

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ Photo of his memorial
  2. ↑ Note: sources are conflicting whether he was the 2nd or the 3rd son.
  3. ↑ "Duleep-Singh, Prince Frederick Victor (DLP887PF)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. ↑ Fletcher, Walter Morley (2011) [1935]. The University Pitt Club: 1835-1935 (First Paperback ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-107-60006-5.
  5. ↑ Routine test reveals white debt collector from Halifax is secret great-great-grandson of last king of the Sikhs
  6. ↑ Service Record
  7. ↑ "No. 27348". The London Gazette. 23 August 1901. p. 5596.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 , Information of members of the royal house of Punjab


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