How India's modern-day royals are staying relevant

Brut India

How relevant is royalty in new India? Brut spent a breathtaking day at one of the country's oldest and wealthiest royal properties to find out.

Transcript

00:00How does it feel like to be a modern-day king in India?

00:11First and foremost, my question is that do such things exist?

00:24Royal families in India were stripped of their baby purses and privileges in 1971.

00:2950 years down the line, there are still many royal families known in India for their opulent

00:35lifestyles.

00:36I mean, look at their cars, their weddings, their homes, or even their multi-crore legal

00:42battles.

00:43What's even more fascinating is what they say or what they do still make news.

00:48Without titles or any defined power or position, why should it matter what these erstwhile

00:53royals think about news events or ongoing controversies?

00:57And yet, it does.

01:00But why and how are modern-day royals making a living and staying relevant in India today?

01:06Roop spent a day at one of the oldest and wealthiest royal properties in India, the

01:11City Palace of Udaipur.

01:42This palace is many centuries old, once the bastion of the great warrior king Maharaja

01:48Pratap.

01:49A part of the palace is open to the public for a glimpse into the history of the Mewar

01:54dynasty.

01:55Another part is still inhabited by the royal family.

01:58And this part of the palace is called the Shivnivas, now a luxury hotel property.

02:03It is here that in 1961, the monarchs of Britain, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, spent two

02:09days.

02:10They were visiting the then king of Udaipur.

02:13You might have also seen the palace in the 1983 James Bond movie.

02:40We were accompanied by Laksharaj Singh.

02:49His website says he is the scion of 1500-year-old house of Mewar.

02:54Today, a room at the property starts from 9,000 rupees and goes up to 45,000 rupees

03:08per night.

03:09The Mewar clan was one of the pioneers in converting their palaces into heritage properties.

03:15The heritage industry, the heritage hotels are coming back.

03:19There are people who are a lot more passionate about it.

03:21They want to deep dive into it, to experience it, to come and to see it firsthand rather

03:26than just limiting themselves to films or books.

03:29These days, heritage hospitality is not an excuse for bad hospitality.

03:33When Indira Gandhi stripped the royals of their privileges, it dealt a blow to coffers

03:37of most of the royal families in India.

03:40Faced with the challenge of sustainability, many royal properties since then have converted

03:45into heritage hotels.

03:47The greatest ideology, thought process and interest has been to be able to get the money

03:53back and to put it back into the property and to make it sustainable, keep it alive.

03:59And I think the important part of it is the fact that, again, something that my father

04:02believes in and has been doing is living heritage.

04:05It's not a dead monument.

04:07In 1971, the then king of Udaipur, Maharana Bhagwat Singh Mewar, converted their summer

04:12home, the Lake Palace, into a heritage property.

04:15However, this transformation from being the royals to hoteliers was not easy for the royal

04:20family in Udaipur.

04:22They lacked professional skills to manage the business.

04:25Hence, Bhagwat Singh approached the Taj Group of Tata's to operate the hotel on a lease

04:29basis.

04:30Don't you think there is still an obsession about living luxuriously like the royal life

04:37which is also attracting us?

04:39No, definitely.

04:40It's not something that I don't like.

04:42It's just something that I would want to put in perspective.

04:50So what is it that he's really describing?

04:52At the end of the day, he's really describing the quality.

04:54He's really describing an attribute or a trait or a personality or a character or an expectation

05:00that is there.

05:01Could be from a cloth or could be from a person, could be from a building, could be from a

05:04car.

05:05An image of Sudha Moorthy bowing down to a royal family sparked a debate.

05:09Whether earlier forms of showing respect were symbols of hierarchy still exist in the world's

05:14largest democracy.

05:16A lot of archaic protocols still in place in the royal families in India.

05:21It's a general respect that I think is exceptionally important mutually.

05:26It's not something that is a one-sided segment.

05:29This is something that needs to be aware of on both ends.

05:34And I think giving and taking respect is a beautiful gesture for humanity.

05:39Beyond philanthropy and hospitality, the other ways that several royals across the country

05:44are striving to stay relevant are heritage and environmental conservation, the age-old

05:49practice of joining politics or diving into the entertainment industry.

05:54A democratic India may have relegated royal titles to the past, but there are many erstwhile

05:59monarchs who continue to draw inspiration from their heritage to find relevance, revenue

06:05and respect.

06:19For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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