Diya Kumari. Picture by Surendra Jain Paras

Jaipur, Jan. 30: The royal city is grooming a princess to fill the vacuum left by Maharani Gayatri Devi.

Diya Kumari, the daughter of Bhawani Singh, the erstwhile maharaja of Jaipur, is set to be the next face of the Jaipur royal family, which had become synonymous with the charismatic Gayatri Devi who died last year.

Sources said that for the first time, the Jaipur royals had decided to engage a public relations manager to oversee the family’s work, social activities and groom the 39-year-old Diya, who had triggered a storm a decade ago by marrying a commoner. Diya is the only child of Bhawani Singh, 79, and Padmani Devi, the former princess of Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh.

Till now, public relations for the royal palace had been handled by its staff, who sent out official press releases whenever needed.

Insiders said the family now felt there was a need to work on the image of the princess and do brand building to highlight Diya as the leading light of the palace.

Diya heads the Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh School, an elite public institution at Jagatpura in Jaipur. She was instrumental in starting it as a pre-primary school from City Palace — the opulent home of the Jaipur royals — in 2001.

The idea behind the school was that children should learn only when they were ready to learn and books should not be dumped on them. In this, Diya was taking a leaf out of the book of her grandmother, who started the MGD school, named after her, in 1943, to promote education among girls.

The London-educated Diya — she has a diploma in arts — has several traits in common with Gayatri Devi.

Like her grandmother, Diya has been a public figure seen at various social occasions and has taken on the onus of managing several family interests like the City Palace museum. She is also the chairperson of the tourism cell of the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

They even share sartorial tastes: Gayatri Devi was known for her single-coloured chiffon saris and trademark pearls, which started a fashion in Bollywood as well; Diya is almost always dressed in printed chiffon leheriya saris and wears the ethnic Rajputi lehenga choli at traditional functions.

Diya, like Gayatri Devi, is known to be a good orator and in many of the public functions she attends, she harps on the need for education to improve the plight of women in Rajasthan, especially those in rural areas.

Even their marriages have been talked about.

Gayatri Devi’s fairytale wedding to Sawai Man Singh (she was his third wife), her feisty spirit and boldness that helped her break out of the purdah tradition prevalent in the royal family is part of Jaipur legend.

Diya too had created a storm in 1997 when she defied tradition to marry Narendra Singh Rajawat, who came from a modest family in Sawai Madhopur and was a cashier at the City Palace.

The marriage led to widespread protests by Rajputs who were aghast that a royal princess was marrying outside the community and had threatened to excommunicate the maharaja.

The couple now stay at City Palace and have three children — two sons and a daughter. The eldest son, Padmanabha, is next in line to the Jaipur “throne”.

Sources said the royal family wanted to project Diya as its mascot since she is well travelled, sophisticated and at ease with all sections of society.

Besides, the heiress to the over Rs 1000-crore property of the royals could refurbish the image of the family, more known for its battles over the vast estate, especially after Gayatri Devi’s death. Family sources said a change in image was required since the royals made news only over alleged palace intrigues and family disputes.

“There is a need to highlight the family’s involvement in social activities, education, philanthropy and charity,” said an insider.