Meet woman with house costlier than Mukesh Ambani's Antilia, not Roshni Nadar, Rekha Jhunjhunwala, owns assets worth Rs...

Baroda’s royal family, the Gaekwads are decedents of the Maratha clan, the warrior Kshatriya clan. Their original surname was ‘Matre’. The term Gaekwad has come from “gae-kaiwari,” which describes one who is a defender of cows, which in many years changed to Gaekwad. The royal family’s current Maharaja is HH Maharaja Samarjitsinghrao Gaekwad who is the 16th Maharaja of Baroda since 2012. He married Rajkumari Radhikaraje Gaekwad on 27th February 2002. Their children or the next heirs are: Shrimant Maharajkumari Padmaja Raje Gaekwad, born on 17th November 2006, and Shrimant Maharajkumari Narayani Raje Gaekwad, born on 11th August 2008.  

Who is Rajkumari Radhikaraje Gaekwad 

Radhikaraje Gaekwad is a royal from the Wankaner Royal Family, with Wankaner being a princely state of Jhala Dynasty in Saurashtra. She is the daughter of Dr. M K Ranjitsinh Jhala untouched by his royal prestige and luxuries, gave up his royal title to pursue UPSC and became an IAS officer later. He left his royal status only to work towards welfare of wildlife and made life’s contribution to protect and preserve India’s rich wildlife due to which he is given titled as ‘India’s Cheetah Man’. Inspired by the passion of her father, Radhikaraje also chose her passion for writing as her career. She graduated with a degree in BA History (hons) after which she secured a writing job at The Indian Express and completed her Master's Degree in medieval history from Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) in Delhi alongside.  

Radhikaraje’s house is worth Rs 24,000 crore 

Radhikaraje along with her royal family lives in a massive palace which is the largest residential house in the world which was built in 1890 by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. At that time, it costed around £180,000 (₹27 lakh). The Royal Palace, Laxmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara, is the family legacy of the Gaekwads. The Royal family of Baroda also owns assets worth over Rs 20,000 crore and founder Karl Benz’s first car, the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen. Laxmi Vilas Palace is four times of that of Buckingham Palace. It even surpases the size of Antilia, Mukesh Ambani’s house in Mumbai. 

The palace which has a unique design in the Indo-Saracenic architectural style is built in more than 500 acres with over 170 rooms. It has a worth over Rs 24,000 crores. The Palace also houses royal buildings like the Moti Bagh Palace, Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum, and LVP Banquets and Conventions. The royal space also accommodates a golf course, cricket ground, swimming pool, and club house. The palace is indeed built in a royal archaic design with chandeliers and mosaics adorning the walls and precious artworks keeping the heritage feel of the palace intact.