Major new exhibition opens at Kensington Palace

A new exhibition unveiled at Kensington Palace will, for the first time, bring together rarely seen objects and personal stories to illuminate the extraordinary life of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh – Punjabi princess, pioneering suffragette, and the goddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Bringing together personal photographs, letters, and rarely seen objects from the lives of six royal women, this is the first major exhibition to explore Sophia’s story alongside the powerful women who shaped her – her sisters Catherine and Bamba, her mother Bamba Müller, grandmother Jind Kaur and godmother Queen Victoria.

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh was the daughter of Duleep Singh, the last Sikh Maharajah of the Punjab who was forced to surrender his lands to the East India Company in 1849. Duleep Singh came to England, where he struck up a close – but ultimately unequal – friendship with Queen Victoria. Victoria had a keen interest in India, becoming Empress in 1857, but remained close to the deposed Maharajah. He was known to have particularly doted on her son Leopold, whose play tunic features in the exhibition, and Queen Victoria was godmother to two of his children, Prince Victor and Princess Sophia.

Duleep Singh married Bamba Müller, the daughter of a German banker and an enslaved Ethiopian woman, and their children were raised at Elveden Hall in Suffolk, remodelled to resemble an Indian Mughal palace. Items from Sophia, Catherine and Bamba’s childhood demonstrate their demonstrate their complex identities shaped by a diverse heritage: British aristocrats with a father drawn from Punjabi royalty, and an Ethiopian-German mother brought up in Egypt. The exhibition includes an ornately painted Indian rocking horse, and an Ottoman-style three piece outfit worn by Sophia in family photographs. However, their lives were not without complexity. After their father deserted the family, Queen Victoria intervened in their care and established independent incomes for his three daughters, later providing Sophia with a grace and favour apartment at Faraday House, Hampton Court Palace.

Best known today as a pioneering suffragette, Princess Sophia used her profile to campaign for women’s right to vote. Taken to court three times for refusing to pay her taxes, highlights of the exhibition include a “No Vote, No Tax” banner used in early 1900s protest marches, and Princess Sophia’s handwritten letter to Winston Churchill reporting police brutality at the Black Friday suffragette march. Together with rarely exhibited items – including an original copy of the Suffragette containing an image of Sophia selling the magazine on the gate of Hampton Court Palace —these items offer visitors a vivid portrait of a princess turned political force.

Personal letters, jewellery, and textiles trace the complex and often painful journey of the family following the Princesses’ father and grandmother’s exile by the British from Punjab. Princess Bamba’s writings reveal her determination to reclaim her family’s heritage, while dupattas worn by her both in Norfolk and Lahore show how she expressed her mixed heritage across continents. As the last survivor of her family, Bamba was responsible for carrying out her sisters wishes, and preserving the legacy of generations before her.  

Meanwhile, Princess Catherine played a quiet but powerful role supporting Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, illustrated in the exhibition by a jewelled pendant, likely an heirloom from her grandmother Jind Kaur. Catherine acted as a guarantor for Jewish families in Germany, inviting them to live at her house in Buckinghamshire, and gifted the pendant to eight-year-old Ursula Hornstein. Reflections from Ursula’s son speak of Catherine’s generosity and kindness.

For the first time since 1886, an iconic portrait of Jind Kaur, Duleep Singh’s mother, will be reunited with the real earrings worn by the defiant Maharani in her image, and a preparatory sketch revealing her true appearance after years of exile. These items are richly layered with meaning, from the precious jewels returned to her following confiscation by the British India Office to the composition of her portrait, which reflects her royal status.

Voices from today’s British South Asian communities appear throughout the exhibition in creative responses exploring heritage, identity and resistance. These contemporary reflections place the princesses’ stories firmly in the present, highlighting their continued resonance.

Polly Putnam, Curator of The Last Princesses of Punjab, said, “This exhibition reveals a story of courage, identity and resistance told through the lives of extraordinary women. Presenting it within Kensington Palace—where Queen Victoria spent her childhood—gives us a rare opportunity to reflect on their intertwined histories, and to present objects that speak to both a global story and the personal stories of these women.”

Mishka Sinha, Exhibition Historian for The Last Princesses of Punjab, added, “It is a privilege to bring the story of trailblazing suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh to Kensington Palace as we mark her 150th birthday. The women of her family lived through an extraordinary sweep of history, yet each found ways to exert influence and forge their own identity. We hope visitors will be moved and surprised by the histories they uncover.”

The Last Princesses of Punjab is now open at Kensington Palace until 8 November 2026, and is included in palace admission.

https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/whats-on/the-last-princesses-of-punjab/