Padmanabh Singh (left) after the raj tilak ceremony at the City Palace in Jaipur on Wednesday. Picture by Surendra Jain Paras

Jaipur, April 27: A 13-year-old schoolboy “with no airs” was today declared Jaipur’s “maharaja” in a quiet ceremony, far away from the razzmatazz of the William-Kate royal wedding.

Padmanabh Singh, grandson of Jaipur’s last officially recognised king Bhawani Singh, was anointed head of the Kachwaha Rajput clan at a gathering of the family, former maharajas and jagirdars at the City Palace here.

Brigadier Bhawani Singh, a hero of the 1971 war, had died on April 16 aged 79. Padmanabh, whom Bhawani had adopted as his son and heir, had lit the funeral pyre and performed all the rituals traditionally done by a son.

But along with the unofficial royal title and Rs 1,000 crore worth of property —most of it locked in lawsuits — the boy inherits a raft of court cases against family members that many fear might be too heavy a burden on his young shoulders.

For now, the Class VIII student of Ajmer’s Mayo College can only own the City Palace, built over 30 acres by his ancestor Sawai Jai Singh II between 1729 and 1732.

The boy’s housemaster in Mayo College, Yash Saxena, told The Telegraph: “Padmanabh Singh has no airs of being a royal. He is down to earth and has adapted very well to the hard rigours of hostel life. He mixes very well with all other students, and all his classmates are very fond of him as he goes out of his way to help them.”

Padmanabh had joined Mayo College last year after a stint at the Palace School, run by his mother Princess Diya, and later the Bhawani Singh School in Jaipur.

Saxena said Padmanabh’s parents — his father Narendra Singh is a commoner — had requested the school to treat their son as any other child. The housemaster said the young prince was not only good in studies — he scored over 80 per cent in Class VII —but was a house prefect and had won six colours for his house, Oman.

Like most in his family, Padmanabh is a keen rider of horses and is equally good at badminton and squash. Saxena said the boy took his responsibilities very seriously and accomplished them within deadlines.

Sources said Bhawani’s stepbrothers Jai Singh and Prithvi Raj Singh were unhappy when Bhawani adopted Padmanabh, especially because his father Narendra had been a palace clerk before he married Princess Diya.

Jai, Prithvi Raj and their late stepmother Rajmata Gayatri Devi had been fighting Bhawani for the family’s properties that include palaces, heritage hotels and a large treasure trove of gold, silver, gemstones and antiques. The cases are still continuing.