The last princess of Punjab who saved families from the Holocaust - The Saturday Story
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 14 March 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1938, Catherine Duleep Singh, goddaughter of Queen Victoria and daughter of the last Maharajah of Punjab, personally secured the escape of Jewish families to Britain, saving them from the Holocaust. Her story didn’t end there, she became a prominent suffragette, fighting for women’s rights while navigating life in exile. We explore her remarkable courage, activism, and the lives she forever changed.
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Read by: Jack Blackburn, history correspondent for The Times.
Producer: Dave Creasey
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story on Saturday. I'm Rosie Wright. |
| 0:11.6 | In 1938, as the shadow of the Holocaust spread across Europe, among many others who took a stand, |
| 0:18.7 | was one extraordinary woman you've probably not heard of. |
| 0:22.5 | Catherine Jalip Singh, God's daughter of Queen Victoria and daughter of the last Maharaja of Punjab, |
| 0:28.3 | risked everything to bring Jewish families to safety in Britain. |
| 0:32.7 | But her story didn't end there. |
| 0:35.0 | From royal exile to the front line of the suffragette movement, |
| 0:38.9 | Catherine's courage and conviction shaped the lives of countless people. Today, we uncover |
| 0:44.5 | her journey, read by the Times History correspondent Jack Blackburn. |
| 1:04.2 | Music My name is Jack Blackburn, and I'm the history correspondent for the times. |
| 1:09.7 | Today, I'm talking about a story that I've been slightly aware of for years. |
| 1:13.5 | That Queen Victoria had a goddaughter who was an Indian princess was something I learned a few years ago. It was an eye-catching fact, |
| 1:19.8 | but there seemed no reason to dwell on it in a story in a newspaper. But now, historic royal |
| 1:25.8 | palaces at Kensington Palace are doing an exhibition, not just on that goddaughter, but on her amazing sisters. |
| 1:33.5 | And new material is coming to light for the first time in public. |
| 1:38.5 | In one case, it tells the most extraordinary story about how an Indian princess saved Jews from the Holocaust. |
| 1:50.5 | If one were to walk into an exhibition at Kensington Palace about Indian princesses, |
| 2:00.0 | a pendant is probably one of the first things |
| 2:02.0 | you would expect to see. |
| 2:08.2 | But in one show at the palace, one particular jewel is not just another bit of regal bling. |
| 2:14.7 | This item, which has never before been seen in public, tells the story of how a sion of an Indian dynasty saved whole families from the Holocaust. |
| 2:27.3 | The pendant belongs to the family of Ursula Hornstein, a Jewish girl who fled Germany with her family just months before the Second World War. |
... |
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