The Ranee of Pudukota Wearing Vionnet, by Cecil Beaton
Photograph Clive Kandel Collection
Reproduction Prohibited
Many years ago, there lived a fair Prince both charming and generous. Our friendship was deep and personal. The only child of the famed Rajah of Pudukota and his young, beautiful Australian wife, the Rajkumar Marthander grew up during a period of prewar glamour, surrounded by luxury. Unlike other Indian Princes, he had never stepped foot in India. Growing up in London, Paris, Cannes, Gstaad, and having been educated at Le Rosey, he was imbued with the finest life that Europe had to offer. His father died when he was young, so consequently he became his mother’s, the Ranee, best friend and confidante. As a pair, they were feted and spoiled wherever they went. The young widow, with her large fortune, became one of the Europe’s best dressed and bejewelled women. All the names that make us sigh today were her companions and admirers; Queen Mary, the Aga and Begum Khan, Lady Mendl, Elsa Maxwell, Laura Corrigan, Borgheses, Marion Davies and Randolph Hearst, Chanel, Marie Ritz, Josephine Baker, Florence Gould and many more. Twice a year she would be outfitted for the current season by Paquin, Vionnet, Patou, Schiaparelli. Shoes were made to match from Hellstern opposite Boucheron in the Place Vendome and all purses made to order from Cartier. She shopped in the row of boutiques between the Ritz lobby and the Rue Cambon.
Her maid kept records of her clothes, shoes and accessories, what was worn, when and where. Vuitton trunks, eventually left to me, numbered in the high 40′s. Shoes, linens, hats, desks, overnights, large dresses, day suits, long voyages in cabin, in the hold, in storage – everything was numbered in red and yellow and covered in the now too familiar LV canvas.
The Ranee of Pudukota Wearing The Cartier Oriental Pearl, Diamond Girandole Earrings
Photograph Clive Kandel Collection
Reproduction Prohibited
Her famous pearls and large emerald bracelets were bought from Van Cleef & Arpels, tiaras from the exiled Romanovs. She bought a glass bracelet from Lalique that stretched over the wrist. Taking it to Cartier, she ordered it copied in rock crystal and diamonds. The Cartier version would catch on her satin evening gowns, leaving marks. She returned it to Cartier’s and it was resold to Gloria Swanson. Ganna Walska bought a similar one. During a London after-lunch shopping trip to Cartier with the Honorable Mrs. Cunningham Reid, sister of Lady Mountbatten, Jacques Cartier showed her a new idea of his, a pair of diamond clips; an idea that seemed slightly too advanced, fashion still not having invented the squared neckline. The Ranee came up with the idea that the two friends would buy them. The Ranee wore hers clipped to the back of a gown and Cunningham Reid wore hers clipped at the front. Soon, Cartier London were to make more double clips than could be counted.
When they were in London, Jacques Cartier would make a house call and bring gifts for the young Prince; a Cartier gold and Arabesque black enameled Yo-Yo that would spin patterns occupying the young boy while his mother perused jewels. She in turn gave gifts. Cartier Pont L’Anneaux gem set cufflinks and Cartier rock crystal diamond set pocket watches were given to men of style such as Edward Molyneux. Her Cartier house account (originals in the author’s collection) shows itemized transactions for watch repairs, pearl restringing, special ordering of rare fabrics for purses, unique jewels and everything else a jeweler might be expected to do. The Prince, as a young man, would explain to the younger Schwaiger, Cartier’s London manager, when ordering a set of jewels for his mother, that diamonds were not to be set in platinum but gold. The Prince wanted the new all gold look as shown by Van Cleef & Arpels in Paris. He told me that there was a certain chic to the bold and large simplicity of Van Cleef’s jewels that attracted clients away from Cartier before the war.
The Prince and the Ranee, New York, 1938. The Ranee is wearing a coat by Vionnet and Hat by Schiaparelli.
Photograph Clive Kandel Collection
Reproduction Prohibited
When not living in London or at the Paris Ritz, they maintained the Villa La Favorite in Cannes. Driving to have lunch with Florence Gould in Juan les Pins was a normal day. However when Cartier opened their shop on La Croisette in Cannes, the Ranee found that to be an abnormal day. Louis Cartier had brought with him one of the most important fine Oriental pearl diamond earrings ever created by Cartier. He knew the Ranee would be the first client, and he hoped to tempt her. I’m sure, with charm and goodwill, the Ranee did not disappoint Mr. Cartier and she purchased the magnificent Oriental Pearl diamond chandeliers. Louis Cartier claimed afterwards that the Ranee always brought him good luck. The Cartier store remains on the same corner today and many, many jewels have been bought there. I feel that there is an advantage to being so close to a beach and the Carlton that seems to allure the buyer and receiver. My own Cartier tank watch was bought from that store many years ago.
The Ranee's Art Deco Cartier Oriental Pearl and Diamond Girandole Earrings
Photograph Clive Kandel Collection
Reproduction Prohibited
The Ranee lived in London, Cannes and Rome after the war. Some jewels were bought from Bulgari, but the tiaras were sold before the war to Queen Mary. All the other jewels were kept until her death in the 1960′s. In 1974, the Prince was prepared to part with one item only, the famous Cartier pearl ear-pendants. Sequestering these was emotionally moving forward for him. The past glamour and elegant life had changed and small circles of close friends were now more important than the new society. The Art Deco Cartier oriental pearl and diamond earrings fetched a staggering $70,000 at Christies Geneva in May 1974. The rarity, beauty and price realized prompted Hans Nadelhoffer to write,”The artistic significance of the jewellery designs of the twenties have only today been recognized”. I would say that one could multiply the sale price by fifteenfold for the current market.
The Prince spoke like a gentler Noel Coward, attracted kindness wherever he went and in spite of being a realist on occasion could say with alarm, quite out of the blue out of concern for people, such things as “Poor Marie Antoinette, really quite shocking”!. He knew everything about people’s jewels – who sold their amazing Cartier ruby bracelet to S.J Phillips and for how much or too little and how Paul Louis Weiller’s wife took his Jubilee Diamond set in a mount designed by Cartier’s Jeanne Toussaint. She used it to escape to America through Casablanca, thereby saving her life. The Prince’s visit with the Ranee to New York in 1938 included dating number one debutante Brenda Frazier and befriending Fulco di Verdura. In company he was direct, bubbling and politely forthright. You, his friend, were what concerned him. His manners were from another age.
My close friend, Prince Charming, passed away whilst on the telephone with me. I was in Milan and he in Florence. We were to see each other the following day. Prior to his death, he had given the Museum of Costume in Bath some of the Ranee’s Cartier pochettes and clothes and the Musee de la Mode the white ermine and velvet coat by Vionnet that she is wearing in the portrait by Cecil Beaton. The rest was left to those whom he loved, his closest friends. Being the inheritor of so many wonderful things belonging to this deeply kind pair left me with more sadness than joy. I would like to say that until this article, I have ignored and resisted many requests for information or images and details of the Prince and our friendship. However, when approached last year by the very kind Anna Jackson of the Victoria and Albert Museum regarding the Maharajah Exhibition, I knew that Prince Marthander would have greatly approved. This is a very short article about a white Ranee and a Prince quite unlike most of their fellow Raj Royals.
By coincidence our families are interred in the same location, and one day that will remedy our missed last rendezvous.
Black and White Images Copyright Clive Kandel, Reproduction Strictly Prohibited
