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A keen motorist, in his youth he covered 4,000,000 miles in his Mercedes 180D.
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That is certainly what I would call keen.
People are griping apparently that the late Maharajah, a man of austere personal behaviour (the I80d would endorse that), occasionally took a handful of gold coins from the overflowing sacks of the stuff in the vaults under his palace, said to contain countless billions of quid's worth of jewels, huge piles of diamonds and rubies and other Indian tat. Clearly there are mean humourless Livingstonist lefties in India as well as here...
One vault hasn't been opened yet because people are afraid they may face 'the ire of snakes' if they open it. Wimps.
(The comic was quite amusing today).
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Telegraph obit.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10528924/Sree-Uthradom-Thirunal-Marthanda-Varma-obituary.html
If like me you have used up your 20 Telegraph articles for the month, using an incognito window in Chrome should give you access.
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I don't believe the '4,000,000 miles in a 180D', bit.
If he drove at an average speed of 20 mph - over Indian roads! - for 10 hours a day every day of the year, it would take 54 years to travel 4,000,000 miles.
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Well spotted Duncan.
This from his Wikipedia page has been qualified only today -
He has to his credit of driving more than 40 lakh miles in his Mercedes Benz 180 D and through crowded roads.[citation needed] Though much repeated, the claim of 40 lakh (4millionn) miles is not credible. The 180D Mercedes dates from 1953. If he drove every day for the pasat 60 years he would need to average 180 miles a day. Not realistic, especially on Indian roads. He has won several medals from the Benz company at Stuttgart.
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"If like me you have used up your 20 Telegraph articles for the month, "
If you're using Safari, and you can be bothered, go into Preferences - Privacy - details - and delete the 'Telegraph' cookie. Then, off you go again for another 20 articles.
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I knew you would rise to this one, AC - it's your sort of story :)
I too was sceptical about the mileage. But it's a nice story, and brightened my day.
A few years ago my college alumni magazine listed the Maharaja of Baroda as an old boy. He said he liked to keep in touch, and invited anyone passing to drop in.
His address was easy to remember - "The Palace, Baroda".
Someone took him at his word, and reported that he was a delightful and charming old boy who offered hospitality for as long as he cared to stay.
They don't make Indian princely rulers like that any more, the world's loss.
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>> They don't make Indian princely rulers like that any more, the world's loss.
>>
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Probably because the Indian people now refuse to give them the money that their lifestyle needs.
Bah! Humbug!
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The Maharajah of Travancore - RIP - Armel Coussine
