| Jagatjit Singh | |
| Succession: | Maharaja of Kapurthala |
| Reign: | 3 September 1877 – 15 August 1947 |
| Predecessor: | Kharak Singh (as Raja) |
| Successor: | Monarchy abolished Paramjit Singh (titular ruler) |
| Birth Date: | 1872 11, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Kapurthala, Kapurthala State, British India |
| Death Place: | Bombay, Bombay State, India |
| Religion: | Sikh |
| Father: | Kharak Singh Sahib Bahadur |
| Mother: | Anand Kaur Sahiba |
| Spouse: | six wives |
| Issue: | five sons and one daughter |
| Dynasty: | Ahluwalia dynasty |
| Coronation: | 24 November 1890 |
| Full Name: | Sir Jagatjit Singh Sahib Bahadur |
Colonel Maharajah Sir Jagatjit Singh Sahib Bahadur (24 November 1872 – 19 June 1949) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Kapurthala during the British Raj in India, from 1877 until his death, in 1949. He ascended to the throne of Kapurthala state on 16 October 1877 and assumed full ruling powers on 24 November 1890 as well indulging in traveling the world and being a Francophile.[1]
He was born in an Ahluwalia Sikh family. He received the title of Maharaja in 1911. He learned various languages like Punjabi, English, Hindi, French, Spanish, Italian etc. Like his contemporaries Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala and Maharaja Ranbir Singh of Jind, Jagatjit Singh was also a philanthropist, womanizer and alcoholic. When he was young he sang in front of the Viceroy with his friend, the next Maharaja of Dholpur, in French and Italian which outraged many of the visitors.
He was cousin of Sardar Bhagat Singh, one of the few Indian Justices of High Court during the British Raj. His grandson Sukhjit Singh served as a Brigadier in the Indian Army. Another grandson Arun Singh was a Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government who advised Indira Gandhi to declare Operation Blue Star.
His dream was for Kapurthala to be a 'Paris of the East'. He built from the Jagatjit Palace in a French style modelled on the Palace of Versailles, the Moorish Mosque in the North African style “Maghrebi”, the Kapurthala War Memorial and other sites.
He also built a Gurdwara at Sultanpur Lodhi. An advocate of educational opportunities for girls, Maharaja Jagatjit Singh also supported numerous undertakings to ensure women received proper medical care under schemes first initiated under The Countess of Dufferin Fund which provided medical aid, helped build hospitals and medical facilities exclusively for women.
He served as the Indian Representative to the League of Nations General Assembly in Geneva in 1925, 1927, and 1929,[2] attended the Round Table Conference in 1931 and was Lt Governor of the PEPSU at the time of his death in 1949, aged 76.
He spent lots of his time travelling, he visited China, Indonesia, Japan, Morocco, Italy, Spain, France, Great Britain, United States of America, Brazil, Argentina and other areas. He had a liking for Japan and France.
He was the first Sikh Maharaja to have cut his Kesh (uncut hair), and was known to have secretly converted to Islam. The Shiromani Akali Dal took on this matter and pressured him. Since 1946 he started becoming closer to his religious heritage and announced that his grandson (Sukhjit Singh) would be a Keshdhari Sikh.
During the Partition of India the 60 percent of Muslims in his state were pushed out by his Kapurthala State Forces to Pakistan, leaving only 1 percent left afterwards.
He joined P.E.P.S.U. after the Partition of India, and passed away in 1949.