gayatri devi

gayatri devi




Stylish 'Queen Mother' of Indian politics dies,
NEW DELHI — One of the last queens of India, Maharani Gayatri Devi, who was feted as an international style icon and spent time in jail after she became a politician, died on Wednesday, her family doctor said.

Devi, who was 90, married the Maharaja of Jaipur in 1939, becoming a member of the royal family that effectively ruled the city of Jaipur and the surrounding area of Rajasthan state.

The family -- surrounded by hundreds of servants -- lived a lavish life revolving around hunting, polo, entertaining friends and summers spent in Europe.

After India's independence from Britain in 1947, the family retained its local influence and much of its wealth, and Devi became a successful politician winning a seat in parliament in 1962 and retaining it twice in elections.

A critic of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, she was jailed by prime minister Indira Gandhi for five months for violating tax laws in the 1970s, when India's former ruling families were finally stripped of many of their privileges.

Devi, who was famed as a horsewoman and as a fashion trend setter, died in Jaipur after a long illness, the Press Trust of India quoted her doctor as saying.

She was once among Vogue magazine's list of the world's 10 most beautiful women and counted Britain's Queen Elizabeth and former US first lady Jacqueline Kennedy among her friends.

Devi, who was dubbed "Queen Mother", was also well-known for promoting education among women and she founded a prestigious school in Jaipur named after her.