The princely brothers of Cooch-Behar - portraits by Lafayette Studio, 1901-13

1902. (Probably taken on the occasion of Edward VII's coronation.)

H. H. Maharaja Shri Raj Rajendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Cooch-Behar (11 April 1882, Calcutta - 1 September 1913, Cromer, Norfolk), eldest son of Maharaja Nripendra Narayan of Cooch-Behar. Educated at Eton and Oxford, where he played with the University polo team, he also attended the coronation of Edward VII in 1902. He succeeded his father in 1911, but died just two years later - apparently from the effects of alcoholism - at the age of only thirty-one. Being unmarried and without issue, he was succeeded by his next oldest brother.

Maharaja Rajendra Narayan wears two diamond and pearl necklaces and two strands of pearls in his portrait.

His sarpech looks to be set completely with diamonds.

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1913.

H.H. Maharaja Shri Sir Jitendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Cooch-Behar (20 December 1886, Cooch-Behar - 20 December 1922, London), second son of Maharaja Nripendra Narayan of Cooch-Behar. He attended Eton and Edinburgh University, and attended both the coronation of Edward VII in 1902 and that of George V in 1911. In London two years later, he married Indira Raje, the daughter of the Maharaja of Baroda; six days later, his elder brother died and he became ruler of Cooch-Behar. He and his wife had five children together. But it seems that alcoholism was endemic in his family and he, too, succumbed to the effects of the disease; he died on his thirty-sixth birthday. He was succeeded by his seven-year-old elder son.

Maharaja Jitendra Narayan wears one of the necklaces his brother wears above, along with three strands of pearls...

... but his sarpech is different.

At close range, the retouching done by Lafayette - de rigueur at the time - is quite obvious.

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The four sons of Maharaja Nripendra Narayan of Cooch-Behar, 1901.

Left to right:

Lieutenant-Colonel Maharaj Kumar Shri Victor Nitendra Narayan (21 May 1887 - 31 October 1937, Osterley, Surrey), the third brother, was also educated at Eton and then with the Imperial Cadet Corps at Dehradun. He served as a member of the bodyguard to George V at the Delhi Durbar in 1911. He married the daughter of a lawyer in 1916 and had two sons. He died in a motor accident in England at the age of fifty.

H. H. Maharaja Shri Sir Jitendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Cooch-Behar, the second brother. (See above.)

H. H. Maharaja Shri Raj Rajendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Cooch-Behar, the eldest. (See above.)

The youngest brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Maharaj Kumar Shri Hitendra Narayan (1 July 1890, Darjeeling - 7 November 1920, Darjeeling), was also educated at Eton and, subsequently, with the Imperial Cadet Corps at Dehradun, he fought and was decorated for his service during World War I, but died suddenly at the age of only thirty.