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Radhika Raje, who was born in one Royal Family and married in another, said she and her family led an ordinary life. Maharani Radhika, daughter of Maharajkumar Doctor Ranjitsinhji of Wankaner, married Maharaja Simarjit Singh Rao Gaekwad of Baroda in the year 2002. Her father was the first royal to give up his title and become an IAS officer.

Radhikaraje told Humans of Bombay, “In 1984, when the Bhopal gas tragedy struck, he was posted as a commissioner there.” The tragedy took place when Raje was only six-year-old, but she said she remembered her father doing his duty %u2018fearlessly%u2019 and helping evacuate people.

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“That night, I learned my first lesson-You can’t expect things to fall into place without lifting a finger- a lesson that Baba stressed upon throughout my growing up years,” she said. Soon after her family moved to Delhi, Gaekwad described her life there as “very ordinary”, remembering that she used to go to school in public DTC buses thanks to her mother, who believed in making her children independent.

In an interview with Humans of Bombay, the Maharani of Baroda said, “We led a very ordinary life, so when I visited Wankaner during summer holidays, I’d be amused by the attention people gave me.”

Wanting to stand on her own feet and be independent, she started looking for a job after graduating in history. “At 20, I got a job at Indian Express as a writer. Side by side, I also pursued my Master’s degree,” said Gaekwad, adding that she did not realise at a time what a big deal it was for her to be able to work and pursue her dreams. She added she was the first woman in her family to work, while her cousins were all married at the age of 21.

Being a journalist for three years, she worked with various leading magazines and dailies. Soon her parents started looking for a good groom for her. “I had met a few men before meeting Samarjit, the Prince of Baroda – he was different from the rest,” she says. “When we went out for the first time, he was pretty cool about me offering to pay. And when I told him that I wanted to study further, he encouraged me.”

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The royal said, “Sometimes, people just assume that being a queen is wearing a tiara, but the reality is far from sparkling.” “I’ve broken traditional stereotypes, set my boundaries, and most importantly, I’ve done only what was not expected of me. And that’s the heirloom I’m passing down to my daughters to choose the life that they want to live and have no regrets at all,” said the maharani.

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