The Maharaja of Jodhpur hosts friends of the Freer Sackler in India’s magical state of Rajasthan

By Ann Nitze

The gardens at Rambagh Palace Hotel in the capital city of Rajasthan, Jaipur. The hotel served as the home of the royal family of Jaipur until 1957.

At the invitation of His Highness, Gaj Singh II, maharaja of Marwar-Jodphur, my sister Jane Richards and I had the pleasure of joining a merry group of Friends of the Freer and Sackler Galleries for a unique trip to India led by museum director Julian Raby. Our visit to Jodphur was of special interest, as the Sackler is exhibiting the Maharaja’s family’s collection in Washington in October.

Immediately upon arrival in Delhi, we hurried over to the Imperial Hotel for Sunday lunch with Washington’s favorite India connoisseur Helen Philon and her husband, former Greek Ambassador Alexander Philon and their friends, including Carol and Landon Butler. The Philons were fêted by noted hostess Mani Mann later that evening, where I met the dashing Prince Richard Holkar, who invited us to the annual music festival in his princely state of of Indore.