H.H. Maharaja Sir Pratap Singh Gaekwar in military uniform

This portrait of the ruler of Baroda (now Gujarat state), Maharaja Pratap Singh (r. 1939–1951), express an aspect of the complex world of Indian royalty during the British colonial period. In this photograph, he is in Western military attire but with an ornamented turban; in the image on the left he wearing a rich silk robe, headgear, and jewelry marking the status of an Indian king.

By the late 1800s there had emerged a class of Europeanized Indian royalty and elite that enjoyed Western arts and literature, dressed in European fashions, collected imported luxury goods, and circulated in European society. Many also served the British administration and were awarded distinctions for various services to the Crown. However, despite their Westernization and shared cultural spheres with the British, the Gaekwars, like other local kings, were first and foremost rulers of Indian kingdoms and responsible for the wellbeing of their subjects. The full title and name of this ruler is Major-General His Highness Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Shrimant Maharaja Sir Pratapsinhrao Gaekwar, Sena Khas Khel Shamsher Bahadur, Maharaja of Baroda, Grand Commander of the Indian Empire (GCIE). His numerous titles in Hindi, Persian, and English attest to the complex political and cultural histories Pratap Singh and other Indian rulers embodied.