Rajmata Mohinder Kaur

Rajmata Mohinder Kaur Biography

Rajmata Mohinder Kaur of Patiala is the present Rajmata(Queen) of the erstwhile Patiala state. She is the widow of the late His Highness Maharajadhiraj Yadavindra Singh, the last ruler of Patiala. Mohinder Kaur was his second wife and his first marriage with Hem Prabha Devi of Saraikela was childless. She is also a politician who has served as the Member of Parliament representing Patiala constituency during the period, 1967-1971. She belongs to Indian National Congress. Her son Captain Amarinder Singh is a leading congress politician who has served as the chief minister of Punjab. Her daughter, Heminder Kaur is the wife of Natwar Singh, former external affairs minister of India.

She was born in the year 1922 as the daughter of S. Harchand Singh Jaijee who was a member of the RiyasatPrajyaMandal. She married ruling Maharaja of Patiala, Maharajadhiraj Yadavindra Singh at the age of 16 and assumed a new name, Mehtab Kaur. She was married to the Raja as he was childless from the first marriage. Within one year of marriage, Mehtab Kaur gave birth to a daughter. Later she gave birth to one daughter and two sons. Soon after independence, when Patiala was merged to India, the rulers lost their power. Her husband, Yadvinder Singh was named Rajpramukh and he served the position till the formation of the state of Punjab.

After independence, she worked under the organization PEPSU which offered food and medical help to refugees, following Indian partition. She entered politics in 1964 and got elected for the first time to Parliament in 1967. In 1971, when her husband was appointed as the ambassador to the Netherlands, the family moved abroad. After her husband’s death she returned back to India and resided at Moti Bagh Palace in Patiala, along with the first queen. Later she dedicated her full life to social work for good causes.

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Updated: April 22, 2014