Gaj Singh

Gaj Singh was born on 13 January 1948 at the Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur, to Hanwant Singh and Krishna Kumari. He succeeded to the throne and titles of Jodhpur at the age of four in 1952 after his father died in an air accident, with his mother acting as regent during his minority.

He was educated at home before being sent in 1956 to Cothill House, a preparatory school in Oxfordshire, and then in 1961 to Eton College. He read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1970.

Gaj Singh returned to Jodhpur in 1970. The 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India, enacted in December 1971, abolished the official recognition of princely titles and the associated privy purses. From June 1978 to July 1980 he served as India's High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, with accreditation to several other Caribbean states, and he later served a term in the Rajya Sabha.

He married Hemlata Rajye in 1973; they have a daughter, Shivranjani Rajye, and a son, Shivraj Singh.

In February 2005 Shivraj Singh fell from his horse during a polo match and sustained severe head injuries, spending months in a coma and years in a wheelchair before making a substantial recovery. Drawing on that experience, Gaj Singh founded the Indian Head Injury Foundation in February 2007. The foundation works on public awareness of traumatic brain injury, road-safety and helmet campaigns, training in pre-hospital and post-crash care, and neuro-rehabilitation, and runs rehabilitation centres in Delhi, Noida, Patna and Jodhpur, the last named the Yuvraj Shivraj Singh Neuro Rehabilitation Centre.

He heads a number of other charitable and religious trusts. He established the Rajdadiji Hospital in Jodhpur, and in 1992 founded the Rajmata Krishna Kumari Girls' Public School, a day and residential school named for his mother. He has also been associated with drought relief and water conservation work in western Rajasthan through the Jal Bhagirathi Foundation and with the Veerni and Sahyog projects.[2][3][4]