Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh was born on October 27, 1871, in England. She was the fourth child and the second daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh. Her mother, Maharani Bamba Muller, was half German, and as a child, Princess Catherine often travelled with her on visits to Europe.
On one of these trips, she visited her uncle, Wilhelm Alexander Muller, in Switzerland and later in life, she continued to visit her relatives in Germany, often planning her trips around the Bayreuth Festival.
The Princess was raised in the opulent surroundings of Elveden Hall, where she received private tutoring and was attended by ladies’ maids and valets. However, from a very young age, Princess Catherine was exposed to loss and tragedy within her family.
Her father, Maharaja Duleep Singh, was only nine years old when he was forced to embrace Christianity and exiled from India to England. His kingdom in Punjab, along with his immense wealth, including the Koh-i-Noor diamond, was seized by the British Empire, leaving him financially dependent on them.
When Maharaja Duleep Singh began questioning the British authorities and demanding his rightful claim to the Sikh Kingdom, the East India Company tightened its control over his finances, compelling him to sell everything, including Elveden Hall. In 1887, he set sail for India with his family, but his plans alarmed both the Palace and the British government.
Acting on the orders of the Viceroy of India, the Maharaja and his family were arrested at Aden. After two weeks of negotiation, he was forced to send his family back to England, while he continued on to Paris in a determined effort to regain control of his lost Sikh Kingdom.
Queen Victoria took Maharaja Duleep Singh’s family under her protection and appointed Arthur Oliphant to look after them. He settled the family in Folkestone and hired Miss Lina Schafer as the children’s governess.
That same year in Folkestone, Princess Catherine’s mother, who was depressed and ostracized, had turned to heavy drinking and one day was found dead on the floor. A quiet funeral was given to her at St. Andrew’s Church, across Elveden Hall.
In September 1890, at the age of nineteen, Princess Catherine and her elder sister, Princess Bamba, were enrolled at Somerville Hall, Oxford. Their governess, Lina Schafer, accompanied them, and secretive Catherine formed a deep bond with her governess. Intelligent and talented, Princess Catherine studied French and German, and also took lessons in violin, singing, and swimming.
On her return from Oxford, Queen Victoria granted Catherine, her sister,Princess Bamba and her younger sister Princess Sophia, Grace and Favour accommodation at Hampton Court Palace.
Tragedy struck again in May 1893 when her youngest brother, Prince Edward, died of tuberculosis at the age of thirteen. A few months later, in October, her father, Maharaja Duleep Singh passed away heart broken and penniless in Paris.
In 1903, Princess Catherine managed to travel to India with her sisters, Princess Bamba and Princess Sophia. During her stay in Lahore, she visited Amritsar, Dalhousie, Shimla, and Kashmir. She attended Diwali celebrations and met her father’s relatives, as well as many who still honoured her great-grandfather, Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
By March 1904, Princess Catherine returned to England, where she dedicated herself to women’s rights. She became an active supporter of the non-militant National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and later joined the Fawcett Women’s Suffrage Group.
She regularly attended fairs and rallies advocating for the cause and, in November 1912, organised the Forest of Christmas Trees event to raise funds for the East Midland Federation of the National Women’s Suffrage Societies.
Over the years, Princess Catherine had developed a deep bond with her twelve years senior governess, Miss Lina Schäfer, and in the early 1900s, she left England and moved with Lina to the central German city of Kassel.
In 1918, at the outbreak of the First World War, her elder brother Prince Victor died, but due to the wartime travel restrictions, she was unable to attend his funeral. In 1926, she traveled to England to visit her ailing second elder brother Prince Frederick and after his death she returned to Germany. The Princess spent most of her life in Europe, shared between family in Switzerland and the company of Lina Schafer in Kassel.
In Germany amid the rise of the Nazi Party, Princess Catherine helped many Jewish families escape the Holocaust. She helped Dr Hornstein, who was in a concentration camp near Berlin by being his guarantor to secure his release and helping him and his family to escape.
On August 26th, 1938, Lina Schaeffer died at the age of seventy nine in Germany and Princess Catherine faced disapproval from her neighbors, who viewed her as an old Indian lady who is helping Jews. This hostility compelled her to sell everything and leave Germany, returning to England via Switzerland.
Back in England, with the assistance of her sister Princess Sophia, she purchased a six-bedroom Coalhatch house, in Penn, Buckinghamshire. Princess Sophia also moved nearby, across the road to Rathenrea on Hammersley Lane. The Princesses would spend time together, in the evenings listening to music or going for walks.
In 1938, Princess Catherine sheltered the German-Jewish violinist Alexander Polnarioff and his family in her home. In February 1939, she also took in the physician Meyerstein and his partner. She helped many other Jewish families escape the clutches of German concentration camps.
On Sunday night, November 8, 1942, Princess Catherine died of heart failure at the age of seventy-one at her home in Penn. Princess Sophia was the only family member present at her funeral, while Princess Bamba, who was in Lahore, was unable to travel due to the Second World War. Later Princess Bamba and Princess Sophia had renamed Catherine’s home in her honour, Hilden Hall, after her middle name Hilda.
In 1949, Princess Bamba travelled to England to fulfil her beloved sister Princess Catherine’s last wish. Princess Catherine had wanted her ashes to be buried at Elveden Churchyard and a quarter of her ashes to be buried as near as possible to the coffin of her friend, Fraulein Lina Schafer. After arranging this, Princess Bamba took a portion of the ashes to Kassel, Germany.
Princess Catherine, A Sikh Princess of Punjab, was a lifelong supporter of the Suffragette movement in England. She was a true humanitarian, saving people of all colours, castes, and religions.
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