IT’S NOT EVERY DAY that one meets a young man so passionate about art and architectural renovation, and preservation of ancient royal edifices. But then, dapper and lean, INSEAD-educated Yuvraj Manavendra Pratap Singh of Alwar is the modern descendant of one of India’s most multi-faceted and stylish royals, Maharaja Jey Singh Prabhakar of Alwar.

While Manavendra is busy renovating the chowks (courtyards) and mahals in his family’s stepwell- and painting-filled fortress, the Garh Palace of Bundi, near Kota in Rajasthan, he’s also looking at ways to turn his palaces and havelis into boutique hotels. Add to that, a love of wildlife, angling, and pistol-shooting, and here’s a portrait of a prince with old-world passions that he wants to drive into the modern age, for the benefit of tourism-driven development in his home state.

In fact, Manavendra is always on the move, shuttling between Alwar, his family’s Phool Bagh Palace, his parents’ home in New Delhi, working on his family’s fort in Bundi, and Mussoorie, where the family vacations in a beautiful bungalow inherited from his grandmother Princess Mahendra Kumari of Bundi (who became Maharani of Alwar).

“All three of us (his sisters, princesses Manavi and Janaki) are national-level shooters (the 10 m pistol) as are mom and dad,” says Manavendra, son of Maharaja Jitendra Singh of Alwar, a member of the Congress party, and Maharani Ambika Singh.

A JEWEL-LIKE PALACE IN BUNDI

It was while he was still in school, at the age of 17, that Manavendra got involved with renovation projects at Bundi. Historically, the kingdom of Bundi branched off into another kingdom — Kota by the Chambal river, in 1631, at the peak of the Mughal empire. And it was Manavendra’s great-grandfather Maharao Bahadur Singh of Bundi (a Military Cross awardee during WW2) who really put Bundi on the map.

“He was quite the rockstar of his time,” says Manavendra. “He was friends with people like Frank Sinatra and Milton Reynolds (the inventor of the ballpoint pen), who would come to visit Bundi. And they would go fishing together.” This hobby is something Manavendra has picked up from his great-grandfather — angling. “He was an avid angler and fisherman, and I still use his equipment — fishing tackle and hooks,” he says.

Few know about Bundi’s stunning Rajput architecture — complete with carved elephants — and majestic Bundi school of art miniature paintings and frescoes. “The fort complex is built in a three-step structure,” says Manavendra. “Right on top is the old fort (Tara Garh fort, built in the 12th century), which overlooks the city on one end, and the Ramgarh Tiger Reserve on the other. Then the Garh Palace, which dates back to the 14th century, is the largest, with the famous paintings, mirrors, and frescoes.” And as one climbs up a steep slope, the main entrance to the fort complex is from the Hathi Pole (a gigantic gate with carved elephants, with the ticket booth at its side). “We renovated the entire garden area by the Hathi Pole,” says Manavendra, “It was muddy, with cracked walls, leaky roofs, and hanging wires. We repainted, puts signs, fixed the roofs, installed a garden.”

Royal renovation

Climbing a flight of stairs to the next level lies the Ratan Daulat (a huge courtyard). “The walls were covered with plaster,” says Manavendra, “which we removed, revealing beautiful stone pillars. This led to us identifying other areas, that, for 70 years, had been untouched, covered with plaster.”

“There were three feet of ‘bat guano’ [accumulated and decomposed bat droppings, primarily found in caves] in the secret rooms that we discovered, in the Garh Palace, as nobody had explored that area,” adds Manavendra. “So our people went in with PPE kits, masks, oxygen cylinders, the works, to clean the place.”

Places like the Jhoola Chowk were locked up, which were revealed during the clean-up. “Presently, we would have discovered only 40-55% of the Bundi fort, as there’s so much out there,” says Manavendra, “It’s a slow process and we are constantly at it, making more areas available to the public.” The Badal Mahal (featuring Chinese-style paintings), Chhatra Mahal, Anirudh Mahal, and the Jhoola Chowk, are the new areas that Manavendra is focussed on right now.

“My aim is to preserve the existing paintings in the fort,” says Manavendra. “A complex process because the roofs that we have are different from the other forts as they are made fully out of chuna (a mix of lime and other ingredients that are fermented). It needs to be done in such a way that it doesn’t leave water behind so as not to spoil the paintings underneath.”

HOSPITALITY, THE NEXT BIG THING

Manavendra has big plans to convert some of his havelis and palaces, such as the Moti Mahal Palace, in the city of Bundi, into luxury boutique hotels, which will drive more visitors to this city. “Bundi already has a lot of haveli hotels, so I would like to join the movement to bring Bundi on the map,” says Manavendra, who has been in touch with several brands for a way forward, and whose ‘smallest’ haveli would make for a 30-40 room property! “The Moti Mahal palace, was a residential palace built by my grandfather, and it’s got 150 rooms, so that can be converted first,” he says. Logistically, connectivity, with the New Delhi-Mumbai expressway, which will link Alwar, as well as Bundi and Kota, will make it an easier destination to drive to (Bundi is currently 3 hours’ drive from Jaipur). There’s also an airport coming up between Bundi and Kota.

And of course, his family’s palace in Alwar, Phool Bagh, built by his grandfather Maharaja Sri Pratap Singh, is also a prime location for a hotel.

THE FORMIDABLE MAHARAJA OF ALWAR

Perhaps only a few have not heard the story of Manavendra’s great-great-grandfather Maharaja Jey Singh of Alwar, who used his Rolls-Royce cars for municipality garbage collection. An avid car collector, the story goes, he was offended by a salesperson’s behaviour at the London showroom of Rolls-Royce. He ordered eight cars, and used them as garbage trucks in Alwar!

“Rolls-Royce apologised to him, and offered to take those 8-9 cars back and have them replaced with new ones, but he just said, ‘I don’t want your cars, take them back’,” says Manavendra. “He never bought a Rolls-Royce after that. I still have a list of the 25 cars that he owned, which included a custom Lanchester, built as a hunting vehicle in the U.K. only for him, which we still have, plus a couple of Hispano-Suizas.He also loved his Buicks and Cadillacs.”

Manavendra spends a lot of his free time at his family’s home in Mussoorie. “That’s the house my grandmother Maharani Mahendra Kumari bought for herself,” he says. “She kept two lions in her garden. Since they couldn’t tolerate the heat of Alwar, she brought them to the hills, and bought this summer house for them. She loved animals, and had deer, elephants, and around 40 dogs.” His maternal grandfather is the raja of (the former princely state) Dada Siba in Himachal Pradesh, in Kangra District. “I’ve been helping him there, trying to develop eco-tourism on his land.”

Whenever Manvendra receives foreign and Indian guests at his palace (he has plenty of friends from around the globe from his uni days), he is sure to take them to the Alwar Museum (owned by his family, but government run) that boasts of one of the largest arms collection in the whole of Rajasthan. In fact, Maharaja Jey Singh was one of London-based Westley Richards & Co.’s biggest customers, and owned rare sporting rifles. “I tell my dad that we need to improve the curation and learn from Mehrangarh,” says Manavendra, who is himself a collector of swords and armoury.

“I look at my life as a responsibility, because not everyone has been blessed with the sort of opportunities as I have, to do so much for so many people,” says Manavendra. “Whatever it takes to develop the areas I work in, that I love, and who love me, I will do.”

“In the end, it should benefit the people, the locals, and also make business sense,” he says. Would he ever join politics? “At the moment, I am an interested and keen observer!”.