Key Points
- Tasmanian-born Mary has become Denmark's new Queen.
- Elsie Caroline Thompson married an Indian Maharaja in the 1900s.
- She met him while performing in India.
While some are claiming Australian-born Crown Princess Mary will become the first Queen to be born here, when her husband Frederik becomes Denmark's King on 14 January, there was another woman whose story is barely known.
Growing up in the late 1800s in Sydney as the daughter of a bookseller and stationer, Elsie Caroline Thompson gained a passion for poetry and performing.
"She was a singer, actress, dancer and comedienne, which was unusual for that time."
Elsie's talents took her all over the world — but little did she know that one fateful performance in 1904 would change her life forever.
"She travelled to India with Eugen Sandow's company; he was the great weightlifter and regarded as the strongest man in the world."
"He was a total sensation wherever he went, and they filled theatres."
Elsie performed all over the world. Source: Supplied / Royal Aero Club
The 21-year-old was so talented and beautiful that two of the Indian royals sitting in the audience fell in love with her, Kunz said.
Elsie was first engaged to Raj Rajendra Narayan, then-prince of Cooch Behar state — but their betrothal didn't last.
She then began a relationship with the Maharaja (King) of Tikari, Raji-Kumar Gopal Saran Narain Singh, who already had one wife.
When Elsie and the Maharaja eventually married in 1909, she gained the royal title of Maharani.
Elsie was the second wife of Raji-Kumar Gopal Saran Narain Singh, the Maharaja of Tikari. Source: Supplied
"There was something almost evil or devilish or fascinating for the newspapers about it, and she really was a bit of a sensation," he said.
"Her family themselves found it difficult to cope with initially, but once they formally got married, I think they accepted the fact that they were a loving couple."
The union made Elsie the first reported Australian to marry overseas royalty, almost a century before Tasmanian-born Mary Donaldson became the Crown Princess of Denmark.
Unlike Mary, who has four children with her husband King Frederik X, Elsie and the Maharaja's marriage didn't produce any heirs.
"We know that she had abdominal problems and severe pain and things which led them to believe that she probably could never have children," Kunz said.
"It was one thing that she made sure the Maharaja knew, even before they married."
While the couple lived together in India for years, they frequently travelled to Europe.
"(The Maharaja) was a motor car fanatic and he drove motor vehicles around wherever he could, in races in Britain and even on the continent," Kunz said.
Elsie and the Maharaja's marriage didn't produce any heirs Source: Supplied / Chris Kunz
But the fairytale ultimately ended without a happily ever after.
There were issues in the relationship, which drifted on over many years, and she left the Maharaja and lived with someone else, "which was really not the done thing in those days," Kunz said.
"When the marriage hit the rocks and there were legal issues and all sorts of things … the family started slowly to distance themselves from Elsie, which was a bit of a tragedy for her."
In collaboration with SBS Hindi. Additional reporting by Kumud Merani
