Maharani Gayatri Devi, India's 'Queen Mother' And Style Icon, Dies

The "Queen Mother" of Indian politics has died at the age of 90, AFP reports.

Maharani Gayatri Devi became a member of the royal family of Jaipur after marrying the Maharaja of Jaipur in 1939.

Devi became a popular politician after India's independence from Britain. She was elected to parliament in 1962 and served two subsequent terms, reports AFP.

Devi, who was critical of the Nehru-Gandhi family, was sent to prison for five months by then-prime minister Indira Gandhi for breaching tax laws in 1971.

A skilled horsewoman, Devi was also known for promoting women's education and founded a school in Jaipur.

NDTV reports that Devi was also an international style icon who featured in Vogue's 10 most beautiful list in the 60s.

Devi was friends with the British royal family and Jacqueline Kennedy.

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January 1961: Britain's Queen Elizabeth (C) and Prince Philip (L) pose with the Maharaja (4L) and Maharani Gayatri Devi (5R) of Jaipur after a tiger shoot in Jaipur. (Getty)

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Comments

[noudidnt]

style icon?????

[Anastasia]

Maharani Gayatri Devi wrote a wonderful book titled: A Princess Remembers: The Memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur.

For those of us unfamiliar with Indian customs and the splendor of the Mahrajas it is an eye opening feast of a way of life that is beyond imagining for most Westerners. If one can put aside the inequities of so much wealth in a society with so much poverty and simply enjoy the book for what it is, it's one of the most interesting and entertaining biographies of a woman, out there.

[NilesCrane]

the mahrajas lifestyle was like eye candy everywhere you looked, gold and jewels and colors everywhere.

[Agentlady007]

A feminist RECOGNIZED AT DEATH SADLY in a place that is liberated more now because in this day and age, we'ved come a long way baby, THANKS TO HER. This is a loss to the world. SENDING LOVE AND LIGHT TO iNDIA AND ITS PEOPLE FOR THIS GREAT LOSS.

[Agentlady007]

Sending deepest sympathy to India, the family of the Queen Mother of India and the land and people of this beautiful region of Earth. May peace and love be with you.

[Ajita]

Maharani who? Never heard of her. Thank goodness for democracy.

[naschkatze]

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on a tiger hunt. And the British have to support them.

[renisenb]

She was beautiful.
But i wish she hadn't taken part in the tiger shoot.

[NilesCrane]

it was over 45 years ago, much of the laws didnt even exist yet and people had no idea of endangered tigers....

although its sad, there isnt much we can do now except try and save whatever is left of the tiger population...

I was never a big anti fur person, until a saw a real chincilla, they are the cutest things ive ever seen in my entire life, they are like rabbits mixed with kittens.

[SBrooksB]

We have a 1940s photo of my father kneeling proudly over the tiger he shot and later had made into a rug....complete with taxidermied, snarling head. Killing animals for sport is barbaric. I'll never understand it.

[littleeli]

Indeed! The tiger is in its own home and defends itself with what it was born with. Humans hide/protect themselves well and kill the big cat with a firearm! What utter cowardice in a cruel act! :(