Mehtab Kaur of Patiala

Mehtab Kaur (née Mohinder Kaur; 14 September 1922 – 24 July 2017) was the second wife of the ninth and the last ruling Maharaja of Patiala Yadavindra Singh (1913–1974). She was the mother of Amarinder Singh, the former Chief Minister of Punjab. Had it not been for the erstwhile Indian princely families being stripped of their titles in 1971, upon the death of her husband she would have been considered Rajmata (queen mother), and in popular usage was commonly referred to as such.

Early years Mehtab Kaur was born in Ludhiana, Punjab Province, British India, as Mohinder Kaur, the daughter of Sardar Harchand Singh Jaijee (Shergill), a nobleman of Patiala State and a member of the Patiala Riyasat Prajya Mandal (Patiala State Peoples' Forum, an affiliate of the Indian National Congress party). In August 1938, a month before her 16th birthday, she was married to Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, the ruling Maharaja of Patiala. She was the Maharaja's second wife. As the senior Maharani was also named Mohinder Kaur, and was present in the palace to receive her co-wife, the younger Mohinder Kaur received the new name Mehtab Kaur.

As Maharani Residence of Maharani Mehtab Kaur, New Moti Bagh Palace, Patiala. Yadvinder Singh had succeeded his father as Maharaja of Patiala only a few months prior to this wedding. His first marriage had been (and remained) childless. However, barely 10 months after her wedding, Mehtab Kaur became a mother with the birth of a daughter, Heminder Kaur, future wife of the diplomat and politician Natwar Singh. The following year saw the birth of another daughter, Rupinder Kaur, followed in March 1942 by the birth of the much awaited heir, Amarinder Singh. He was followed in 1944 by a second son, Malvinder Singh. the directly elected lower house of Parliament, from the Patiala constituency. In 1971, the Congress party and its government executed some of their radical plans by individually 'de-recognizing' each and every one of the over 500 Maharajas who existed at that time in India. The privy purse (pension) and other benefits which had been guaranteed to them by solemn covenant in 1947–48, when they signed away their kingdoms, were summarily withdrawn as well. In keeping with Indira Gandhi's anti-royal political stance, Mehtab Kaur was marginalized and was not given a party nomination to contest the general elections of 1971. Instead, the Maharaja was appointed ambassador to the Netherlands that year, and the family again moved abroad.

Later life In 1974, the former Maharaja died at The Hague while serving as India's ambassador to the Netherlands. Mehtab Kaur's elder son, Amarinder Singh, succeeded as head of the erstwhile royal family of Patiala. The princely state of Patiala no longer existed, and even titles had been abolished in 1971, but by the general public, and even in the press, Mehtab was routinely referred to as 'Rajmata of Patiala' and her son as 'Maharaja of Patiala.'

The family returned to India, and the two dowager Maharanis took up residence in their family home, the Moti Bagh Palace in Patiala. Upon the demise of her husband, Mehtab Kaur gave up wearing jewelry, silk or bright colored clothing, and dressed exclusively in two colors, namely white and indigo blue, which are the colors of renunciation and piety in Sikh tradition. She had forayed into politics only because her husband had desired it, and as a pious widow, she now intended to withdraw from public life and spend her days in prayer and religious observances. All her children were married and settled by this time, and she had seven grandchildren upon whom she doted. However, in 1977, outraged by the excesses of the Emergency, in particular the forced sterilization by vasectomy of healthy young men, she joined the Janata Party and was named one of its general secretaries. That party won the general elections held shortly thereafter, and in 1978, Mehtab Kaur was elected a member of the Rajya Sabha. She served a full 6-year term (1978–84) there and then withdrew from public life.

In her retirement, Mehtab Kaur maintained the charitable traditions of her family and remained assiduous in matters of tradition and religious observance. She often granted audience to ladies from Patiala State until advanced age and ill-health prevented exertion. Her piety, austerity and charity made her a cultural icon in Patiala. In later life, she resided in New Moti Bagh Palace, Patiala, before her death from age related ailments on 24 July 2017.