Martanda Sydney Tondaiman: Difference between revisions

 

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</ref> Sydney himself died sixteen years later, on 20 January 1984,<ref name=”NPG” /> at the Hotel de la Ville, [[Florence]], of [[heart failure]]. His latter years, like those of his mother, were marked by social withdrawal. He found it difficult to adjust to a post [[World War II]] era which placed much less emphasis on glamour, dazzling parties and celebrating the high life – the world that he best understood rapidly disappeared in 1939. He spent much of his final years in Italy. His room in the hotel was something of a shrine to his adored mother. It was left to US consular officials in Florence to collect his possessions and start the arrangements for his funeral.<ref name=”DUYp114″>

</ref> Sydney himself died sixteen years later, on 20 January 1984,<ref name=”NPG” /> at the Hotel de la Ville, [[Florence]], of [[heart failure]]. His latter years, like those of his mother, were marked by social withdrawal. He found it difficult to adjust to a post [[World War II]] era which placed much less emphasis on glamour, dazzling parties and celebrating the high life – the world that he best understood rapidly disappeared in 1939. He spent much of his final years in Italy. His room in the hotel was something of a shrine to his adored mother. was left to US consular officials in Florence to collect his possessions and start the arrangements for his funeral.<ref name=”DUYp114″>

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Martanda Sydney Tondaiman
Martanda Sydney Tondaiman and his mother on holiday circa 1930
Born	(1916-07-22)22 July 1916 Sydney, Australia
Died	20 January 1984(1984-01-20) (aged 67)
Known for	being the son and only child of Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman, Raja of Pudukkottai

Martanda Sydney Tondaiman (22 July 1916 – 20 January 1984) was the son and only child of Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman, Raja of Pudukkottai and his Australian wife Molly Fink. He was also known as, and buried, under the name of Prince Pudukota.

Martanda Sydney Tondaiman was born in Australia on 22 July 1916 while his parents were in exile, residing in Double Bay, Sydney.^[1][2] He was named after the city of his birth, since this was a family tradition in the Fink family.^[3]

Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman and his wife had left India for Australia in April 1916, after the Rajah brought his new wife to his new palace in Pudukkottai in October 1915.^[4] The British Resident of the State of Pudukkottai felt that the marriage would undermine the then Rajah’s position among his subjects, and encouraged the couple to leave, having made it untenable to have any continuation of their six month stay.^[1] By the time they reached Sydney in Australia, Sydney’s mother was over six months pregnant with a son conceived in India.^[3] Thereafter the government of India made it clear in 1920, via the Secretary of State for India, that they would not sanction the line of succession passing on to Martanda Sydney Tondaiman, since he was not of pure Indian descent, given that his mother was a white Australian.^[5]

Sydney’s parents clearly felt that an injustice had been done to both the Raja and to his son. In essence their marriage was deemed morganatic by the colonial administration, with Sydney becoming the main casualty. Nicholas B. Dirks in his book “The Hollow Crown” argues that this was precisely what the British overlords wanted: a state structure in place but without a potentially troublesome local ruler.^[6] Molly gave an interview to the Empire news agency in November 2021 where she made clear her unhappiness: “I cannot see how my husband could have acted otherwise than he has done… There is a big principle at stake, and principles are more than Principalities. But I think it is a cruel injustice that our boy should be banned from his birthright,and equally unfair to banish my husband from his own land. I know that he feels the injustice greatly, but he is too loyal to our love to make any complaint on his own account. He would gladly face exile a thousand times rather than be false to our love, or what he conceives to be his duty to our boy.”^[7]

Martanda Sydney and his parents lived in exile outside of India, initially in Australia, then in London from 1919, and from 1922 mainly in Cannes and Paris, where Martanda Sydney’s father held properties.^[5] They made regular visits to the UK. Both the Rajah and Ranee were received in private audience by George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace in 1920 during this exile. Subsequently they attended a number of Court functions by royal command, indicating that the family were not socially ostracised as far as the British royal family were concerned.^[8] In 1921 the Rajah returned to Madras, now Chennai, to welcome the visiting Duke of Connaught, but he did so without his wife or son – his sole visit to India after his son’s birth.^[5].

Sydney was not baptised. The family wanted to signal that the boy would not be raised as a Christian, since if he was to make a successful claim to his father’s kingdom, he would need to show Hindu rather Christian credentials. Consequently his parents did not want to strengthen the arguments of those who would opposed Sydney’s accession to the throne.^[3] This happened anyway in 1927, when a newspaper editor in Pudukkottai wrote “As for the Ruler of the State (Sydney’s father), he is not one who would pay any regard for the permanent well being of the State, by reason of his excessive affection for his son.” According to Nicholas Dirks, though it wasn’t directly stated in the newspaper article, the meaning was clear enough: Sydney was even less of a Hindu than his father, and that it would therefore be against the state’s interests to allow Sydney to take control of the princely state, a state known for its traditional Hindu piety. Though his father had been made to hand over his powers over to his brother some six year previously, and for essentially the same logic, the editor was nevertheless prosecuted and jailed for sedition.^[6][9]

Sydney’s father died at the American Hospital of Paris on 28 May 1928, aged 52 years old, after an emergency operation for an intestinal blockage. Sydney, then 11 years old, was in attendance at the time of death.^[5]. Martanda Sydney’s mother applied to Lord Birkenhead, Secretary of State for India, to accompany her husband’s remains, along with Martanda Sydney, to India, for a funeral in his homeland, but permission was refused. Instead he was cremated in a Hindu ceremony at Golders Green crematorium in London.^[1]
The reason for the refusal was that the British government didn’t want the added complication of Sydney’s presence in Pudukkottai to disrupt their plans for the succession.^[10] Any lingering hopes that Sydney may have had about the succession were extinguished on 1 November 1928, when Colonel Crosthwaite, agent to the Governor General, announced that Sydney’s cousin, Rajagopala Tondaiman, then 6 years old, was declared the new Raja.^[9][11]

Sydney was educated at the Institut Le Rosey, Switzerland^[12] and Clare College, Cambridge from where he graduated in history. At Le Rosey, his closest friend was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who later sent Sydney a special invitation for his coronation in 1967. In 1938, while travelling between Cannes and Paris, Sydney was involved with a road accident when his car hit a concrete post on the bridge in Chalon-sur-Saône. His chauffeur and maid were both killed in the accident.^[13] He was less seriously injured but he was left with a limp. This allowed him to use a Fabergé cane that was said to add to his already elegant appearance. Sydney moved to the United States and became a U.S. citizen on September 1, 1943.

In 1945, Sydney was arrested in New York for the theft of jewellery. The items belonged to a friend of Sydney’s mother, the same victim was also the mother of one of Sydney’s friends, with whom Sydney had been visiting at the time of their disappearance. The value of the theft was deemed to be US$35,000, equivalent to around $625,000 in 2025 terms, and included a diamond set wedding band, found by the police hidden in the closet of Sydney’s hotel. He had been suspected of theft in previous cases, including to the same victim in 1943. She contacted the police in 1945 when she found her platinum lorgnette had been stolen from her bedroom. The New York Times reported on 18 February 1945 that the well dressed prince had admitted the offences, telling the court that his own “considerable funds were unavailable” to him, and that he had “only a couple of thousand dollars in the bank, not nearly enough to maintain my usual style of living”.^[14]

Two days later he made a second Felony Court appearance, after he had helped the police to retrieve more items of the victim’s jewels, including some of the missing 174 diamonds and a pearl studded chain. His lawyer asked that his bail be reduced from $10,000 (equivalent to $180,000 in 2025) to $3,000, however the magistrate declined this application and Sydney was returned to The Tombs.^[15] Despite the request of his victim that he be freed on probation, Sydney was convicted on 22 June 1945, and given a one year term of imprisonment. At the General Sessions Court, the judge, John A. Mullen, accepted that Sydney had helped to recover some of the losses, but he described the prisoner as “totally unreliable”, and blamed his privileged background.^[16][1]

The New York Times on 2 April 1946 reported that Sydney was released from the City Prison, having spent nine months of the one year term, after his mother had made a full restitution to the victim. Judge Mullen suspended the rest of his sentence, and ordered him to leave the country.^[17] He was invited by Ramon Grau, President of Cuba, to reside in Havana and went there upon his release. As a result of his conviction, his U.S. citizenship was revoked. However, in 1980, by Act of Congress, his U.S. citizenship was reinstated,^{[citation needed]} and he died a United States citizen.^[18]

In 1948, he returned to Europe and lived between London, Cannes and St. Moritz. He socialised extensively with other members of high society. In 1967 his mother died^[1] and left him a wealthy man with an extensive collection of jewellery. Some of this jewellery is now forms part of Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection in London.^[19] Sydney himself died sixteen years later, on 20 January 1984,^[2] at the Hotel de la Ville, Florence, of heart failure. His latter years, like those of his mother, were marked by social withdrawal. He found it difficult to adjust to a post World War II era which placed much less emphasis on glamour, dazzling parties and celebrating the high life – the world that he best understood rapidly disappeared in 1939. He spent much of his final years in Italy. His room in the hotel was something of a shrine to his adored mother. After his death it was left to US consular officials in Florence to collect his possessions and start the arrangements for his funeral.^[18]

His body was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium in a Hindu ceremony and his ashes were interred beside those of his parents under the name “H.H. The Prince of Pudukota”.
His UK based probate was valued at £19,696 in 1984, for which the 2025 equivalent is £64,000. There may have been other assets in other locations. Half of the UK estate when to four friends and his mother’s former maid, the other half to an animal charity, the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals, in his mother’s memory.^[20]

• Younger, Coralie (2003). “Molly Fink”. Wicked women of the Raj. Harper Collins. pp. 115–137. ISBN 978-81-7223-454-6.
• Papers of Pudukkottai archives, collection of Clive Kandel, legatee of the Will and Testament of Prince Martanda of Pudukkottai.