London, June 18: Indian high society in London was today trying to check the family tree of “Prince” Mangal Kapoor after he tossed a glass of wine over a British journalist who had questioned his claimed royal credentials.

“Mangal Kapoor is not a prince – he is a fake,” declared an angry Indar Pasricha, owner of the art gallery in Connaught Street, London, where the incident took place.

The gallery, known as Indar Pasricha Fine Arts, was hosting an elegant cocktail party to launch a series of line drawings and sculptures by a “21 gunner” – Ranjitsinh Gaekwad, 71, who succeeded his elder brother, Fatehsinh Rao Gaekwad, as the Maharajah of Baroda when the latter passed away in 1989 at the age of 59.

The journalist who had a glass of Casillero del Diablo, a red wine costing £7 a bottle, thrown over him was James Hughes-Onslow, a man who has been to the right school and therefore well placed to write gossip for Londoner’s Diary in the London Evening Standard.

“You don’t throw wine – red wine at that – over an Old Etonian,” commented a horrified Pasricha. “Mangal Kapoor was not invited but turned up. He had threatened to throw wine over James – and he did.” What had attracted Kapoor’s ire was an item in the diary on April 17.

It had stated: “Mystery surrounds the aristocratic credentials of Prince Mangal Kapoor, who featured at the memorial service of Sir Dai Llewellyn. Although a man by this name has for many years graced parties, a Punjabi toff questions his pedigree. In The Daily Telegraph Court Circular page recently Prince Mangal Kapoor featured, by virtue of his alleged noble birth.

‘Kapoor is a Punjabi name, where my erstwhile state was,’ says Major Narindar Saroop, who comes from a long line of Punjabi administrators. ‘The only Princes there were, or are, Sikh Jats, Muslim Jats, or Hindu Jats like myself. I could call myself a prince, but I don’t. So can Kapoor, but he makes himself look pretentious.’ Mangal Kapoor has no comment when I call.”

Kapoor may have obtained personal satisfaction by emptying his wine glass over his victim but his action could prove counterproductive. He will now be under pressure from Indian society to justify his title but today he was not immediately available for comment.

As for Hughes-Onslow, he extracted sweet revenge by returning to his office and filing the following piece, entitled Right royal rumpus sends wine flying, which appeared today. The Telegraph did attend last night’s party but left before the wine throwing.

Details are provided in today’s Standard: “Last night’s private view of paintings by the Maharajah of Baroda was enlivened when a guest threw a glass of wine over the Londoner. The so-called Prince Mangal Kapoor took exception to my presence, because Major Narindar Saroop was quoted in this column two months ago saying Kapoor had no right to call himself a prince.

‘He is completely bogus, there is no doubt about that,’ said gallery owner Indar Pasricha, whose premises are in Connaught Street, not far from Tony Blair’s house. ‘The Maharajah is a 21-gunner.’

‘It was a horrible sight,’ said Lady Lucinda Lambton. ‘Only last week my dog was attacked by a deer with blood pouring down its face. I wanted to call the police when I saw this attack but then I realized they were standing opposite and we wouldn’t want the former PM (Tony Blair lives opposite) unprotected, would we?’

The Maharajah’s paintings, Of Goats and Kings and other Such Things, were widely acclaimed until Kapoor, who made a rapid retreat after the attack, appeared. ‘It’s hardly a princely way to behave,’ said an Indian aristocrat.”

Pasricha told The Telegraph today: “Thankfully, the Maharajah did not see the incident. It happened in the kitchen area. Mangal Kapoor is the son of Shiv Kapoor, who was at the Doon

School with my brother-in-law. If you research Shiv Kapoor you will find he went to prison for a coffee fiddle in Costa Rica. By his first wife he has a son who lives in Sudbury and is perfectly respectable with no airs and graces. Mangal is the son from his second marriage to a Sri Lankan woman.”

Pasricha added that he once asked Kapoor why he called himself a “Prince” and had received the reply: “ ‘In England you can call yourself anything.’ ”