An Indian maharaja crowned as a toddler and rich beyond imagination falls into a deep depression in old age after losing his only son.
After his own death a few months later, his daughters, the princesses, don't get the palaces, gold and vast lands they claim as their birthright.
Instead,they are given a few dollars a month from palace officials they accuse of scheming to usurp the royal billions with a forged will. The fight rages for decades.
On Saturday, an Indian court brought this chapter to a close, ruling that the will of Maharaja Harinder Singh Brar of Faridkot was fabricated.
His daughters will now inherit the estimated £2.6billion estate, instead of a trust run by his former servants and palace officials.
Chief judicial magistrate Rajnish Kumar Sharma, in the northern city of Chandigarh, finally gave his ruling on the case filed by the maharaja's eldest daughter, Amrit Kaur, in 1992, a court official said Monday.
The court official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The Faridkot riches were legend in India's Punjab state. The estate includes a 350-year-old fort, palaces and forests lands in Faridkot, a mansion surrounded by acres of land in the heart of India's capital New Delhi and similar properties spread across four states.
There is also a stable of 18 cars including a Rolls Royce, a Daimler and a Bentley, all in running condition.
In addition, there is an aerodrome in Faridkot, spread over 200 acres, which is being used by the Punjab state administration and the army.
There is also more than 10billion rupees (£110million) worth of gold, jewelry studded with diamonds, rubies and emeralds.
Brar himself was a boy-king who grew up amid the final gasps of India's royal families. He was crowned maharaja of the tiny kingdom of Faridkot in western Punjab - the last maharaja it would turn out - at the age of three, upon his father's death.
After India won independence from Britain in 1947, Faridkot and hundreds of other small kingdoms were absorbed into the country, royal titles and power were abolished and the royal families were given a fixed salary from the Indian government. That payment, the 'privy purse', was abolished in 1971.
Some royals slipped into penury, while some converted their former palaces into luxury hotels to provide them an income.
A few, like Brar, held onto their enormously profitable real estate and continued to live a rarefied life.
Source: Daily Mail
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