"it is a privilege to tell this story"
The 150th birthday of Punjabi princess and suffragette icon Sophia Duleep Singh will be celebrated in a new exhibition at Kensington Palace.
Opening on March 26, 2026, The Last Princesses of Punjab, explores the lives of Princess Sophia and the women who shaped her, including her sisters Catherine and Bamba, mother Bamba Muller, grandmother Jind Kaur, and godmother Queen Victoria.
Each of these women expressed womanhood, power, and royalty in unique ways, blending heritage with activism and influence.
Princess Sophia is best known for her work supporting women’s right to vote.
The Last Princesses of Punjab will display an original copy of The Suffragette featuring her selling the newspaper on the gate of Hampton Court Palace, a residence granted to her by Queen Victoria.
The photograph caused a scandal in 1913, seen as evidence of her support for a “dangerous” cause.
The exhibition will also show her 1911 census record, marked “No Vote, No Census”, and a 1930 photograph of Princesses Sophia and Catherine at a Suffrage dinner, highlighting their active role in the movement.
For the first time, visitors will gain an intimate look into the lives of women shaped by empire.
Objects on display trace the influence of Queen Victoria and the legacy of the Sikh Empire, which profoundly affected the family’s fortunes.
Sophia’s grandmother, Jind Kaur, was a defiant Maharani who served as regent of the Sikh Empire. Following the Anglo-Sikh Wars, she was imprisoned, separated from her son Duleep Singh for 13 years.
The exhibition includes her emerald and seed pearl necklace, confiscated by the East India Company in 1848 and returned after negotiations, and a makara head enamelled gold bangle set with sapphires, traditionally passed from mother to daughter.
In Jind’s absence, Duleep Singh gifted the bangle to his wife, Bamba Muller.
Bamba, daughter of a German banker and an enslaved Ethiopian woman born in Egypt, grew up in poverty and was educated at a Christian mission in Cairo before marrying Maharaja Duleep Singh and moving to England.
A letter in Arabic and English reveals her complex life in England and personal challenges.
The exhibition also explores the lives of Sophia’s sisters.
Catherine, who lived quietly in Germany with her chaperone Lina Schaeffer, became a guarantor for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and an icon for LGBTQ+ South Asian women.
Letters between Catherine and Sophia, displayed in the exhibition, shed light on Catherine’s personal life and activism.
Princess Bamba Sutherland, Sophia’s niece, considered herself heir to her grandfather Ranjit Singh’s empire.
Returning to Lahore in the 1940s, she collected and preserved traditional crafts. Dupattas she wore in England and Lahore will be shown, reflecting her connection to her family’s heritage.
The exhibition also highlights contemporary voices.
British South Asian women respond to themes of identity, expression, and resistance, including a film by a mother and daughter exploring generations of women shaped by empire.
Polly Putnam, Curator of The Last Princesses of Punjab, said:
“Kensington Palace was the childhood home of Queen Victoria, Godmother to Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, and it is a privilege to tell this story in a space that has long represented the lives of royal women.
“The Last Princesses of Punjab will invite visitors to examine the lives of Sophia and the women who shaped her through the lens of resistance, heritage and identity, displaying objects from their lives alongside contemporary responses to exhibition themes.”
Mishka Sinha, Exhibition Historian, added:
“We are thrilled to be celebrating the 150th birthday of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh in this new exhibition at Kensington Palace.”
“Visitors will have the chance to explore the stories of royal women from one family who lived in very different worlds from one generation to the next.
“The exhibition is an opportunity to centre powerful women in this chapter of our shared history, and we hope that visitors will be surprised, moved, and inspired by what they find.”
The Last Princesses of Punjab opens on March 26, 2026, and is included in palace admission. Tickets are on sale now.
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