Anita Delgado

Anita Delgado Briones was a Spanish flamenco dancer and singer from Andalusia, she achieved fame for having married the Indian maharajah of Kapurthala and thus being named "the princess of Kapurthala".

Biography

She was born on February 8, 1890 in Málaga. The family emigrated to Madrid, where her beauty and that of her sister were welcomed. Painters Julio Romero de Torres and Ricardo Baroja asked that they model, but Anita refused being only 16.

During the marriage ceremony of king Alfonso XIII of Spain in Madrid, the Maharaja Sir Jagatjit Singh Bahadur of Kapurthala State watched her performances in a cafe-concert. He attempted to court her, but his approaches were rejected, and he left after the bombing of the royal couple (May 31, 1906). Later, however, her friends Romero de Torres, Ramón María del Valle-Inclán and Pastora Imperio convinced her to answer his messages and meet him in Paris. He had her educated (including in French) and married her on 28 January 1908. After marriage she changed her name to Maharani Prem Kaur. They later travelled in Europe and India, and she wrote a book about this time called "Impresiones de mis viajes a las Indias". She also gave the Maharaja a son, Maharajkumar Ajit Singh (born 26 April 1908, educated at Cambridge University and at the Military Academy, Dehra Dun. Assistant to the Indian Trade Commissioner in Argentina, died in 1982). During the first World War, her husband worked in Franco-British hospitals. They separated and Anita stayed in Paris with her son. She died on 7 July 1962 in Madrid.