Prince Philip was friends with Gayatri Devi (former Rajmata of Jaipur) and her husband.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is hailed as one of the most important figures in Britain's modern history. He was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, serving as the consort of the British monarch from Elizabeth's accession on 6 February 1952 until he died in 2021.
He served the British people quite faithfully, and always stood by his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, since she took the throne. As Queen Elizabeth II once said, “Prince Philip is someone who doesn't take easily to compliments, but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years.”
Today, Prince Philip's birth anniversary, we share an interesting fact that you probably did not know.
Not many know that Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were good friends with Gayatri Devi (the former Maharani consort of Jaipur) and her husband Man Singh II. Each year, Gayatri Devi sent a box of Alphonso mangoes from India to Prince Philip, on his birthday (June 10).
Author John Zubrzycki mentioned this in his book 'The House of Jaipur: The Inside Story of India's Most Glamorous Royal Family'. As Zubrzycki wrote, "Every year she (Gayatri Devi) would send Prince Philip a box of Alphonso mangoes for his birthday."
The book reveals several aspects of Jaipur's royal family. It mentions, "In the 1950s and 1960s, Jai (Man Singh II) and Ayesha (Gayatri Devi) were India's golden couple, its answer to John and Jackie Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. They were the only Indians invited to Truman Capote's Black & White Ball in 1966 at New York's Plaza Hotel.
Ayesha was the only woman who was allowed to break the dress code, arriving in a gold sari and a necklace of emeralds. Frank Sinatra, Rose Kennedy, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were there too. All were friends of the Jaipurs.
