Editing Duleep Singh (section)

{{about|Maharaja Duleep/Dalip Singh|other persons with similar names|Dalip Singh (disambiguation)|other uses|The Black Prince (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use Pakistani English|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Maharaja Duleep Singh
| image        = Maharajah Duleep Singh dressed for a State function, c. 1875.jpg
| caption      = Maharaja [[Sir]] Duleep Singh in 1875, aged 37
| succession   = [[Sikh Empire|Maharaja of Lahore]]
| reign        = 15 September 1843 – 29 March 1849
| predecessor  = [[Sher Singh]]
| successor    = ''Office abolished''
| regent       = [[Maharani Jind Kaur]]
| reg-type     = Regent
| birth_date   = 6 September 1838
| birth_place  = [[Lahore]], [[Sikh Empire]] (present-day [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Pakistan]])
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1893|10|22|1838|9|6|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Paris]], [[French Third Republic]] (present-day [[France]])
| spouse       = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Bamba Müller]]<br>|1864|1887|end=d.}}
* {{marriage|Ada Douglas Wetherill<br>|1889|<!-- Omission per Template:Marriage instructions -->}}
}}
| issue        = {{list collapsed|title=By ''Bamba Müller:''|Prince [[Victor Duleep Singh]]|Prince [[Frederick Duleep Singh]]|Princess [[Bamba Sutherland]]|Princess [[Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh]]|Princess [[Sophia Duleep Singh]]|Prince Albert Edward Alexander Duleep Singh}}{{list collapsed|title=By ''Ada Wetherill:''|Princess Pauline Alexandra Duleep Singh|Princess Ada Irene Beryl Duleep Singh}}
| house        = [[Sukerchakia]]
| father       = [[Maharaja Ranjit Singh]]
| mother       = [[Maharani Jind Kaur]]
| signature    = Seal of the Lahore Durbar (or Darbar) during Maharaja Duleep Singh's reign.jpg
| religion     = by birth [[Sikhism]] (1838—1853) <br> later [[Christianity]] (1853—1886) 
<br> reverted to Sikhism (1886—his death)
| reg-type1    = [[Vizier]]
| regent1      = {{Plainlist|
* Hira Singh Dogra
* [[Jawahar Singh (wazir)|Jawahar Singh Aulakh]]
* [[Lal Singh]]}}
}}

'''Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh''' <small>{{post nominals|post-noms=[[Order of the Star of India|GCSI]]}}</small> (6 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), also spelled '''Dalip Singh''',<ref>His name has several alternative spellings. Among them are Dhulip, Dulip, Dhalip, Dhuleep and Dalip, but he used Duleep when writing it himself, although Dalip is the conventional spelling for the Punjabi name. Official British letters and documents sometimes refer to him as Dalip the Ultimate.</ref> and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of [[Perthshire]]",<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/150187/Dalip-Singh Dalip Singh] – website [[Britannica.com]]</ref> was the last ''[[Maharaja]]'' of the [[Sikh Empire]]. He was Maharaja [[Ranjit Singh]]'s youngest son, the only child of [[Maharani Jind Kaur]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Black Prince of Perthshire|url=http://www.scotsman.com/heritage/people-places/prince-of-punjab-and-perthshire-remembering-maharajah-duleep-singh-1-2506091|website=The Scotsman|date=5 September 2012 |access-date=26 January 2017}}</ref>

He was placed in power in September 1843, at the age of five, with his mother ruling on his behalf, and after their defeat in the [[Second Anglo-Sikh War|Anglo-Sikh War]], under a [[British Resident]]. He was subsequently deposed by the [[British Crown]], and thereafter exiled to Britain at age 15 where he was befriended by [[Queen Victoria]], who is reported to have written of the Punjabi Maharaja: "Those eyes and those teeth are too beautiful".<ref name="Eton">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4309213.stm Eton, the Raj and modern India]; By Alastair Lawson; 9 March 2005; BBC News.</ref> The Queen was godmother to several of his children.<ref name="first Sikh settler"/> He died at 55, living most of his final years in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Henry |title=East India Company, Beginning to End}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wild |first1=Antony |title=East India Company: trade and Conquest}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=William |first1=Dalrymple |title=The East India Company: The original corporate raiders |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders |access-date=15 April 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=4 March 2015}}</ref>

His mother had effectively ruled when he was very young and he managed to meet her again on 16 January 1861, in [[Calcutta]] and return with her to the United Kingdom.<ref>E Dalhousie Login, ''Lady Login's Recollections, Chapter 14'', Smith Elder, 1916</ref> During the last two years of her life, his mother told the Maharaja about his Sikh heritage and the Empire which once had been his to rule. In June 1861, he was one of the first 25 Knights in the [[Order of the Star of India]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=22523 |date=25 June 1861 |page=2622}}</ref>