Hellen Marion Rundheer Kaur Sahiba Ahluwalia

Brighton

1869–87

Hellen Marion Rundheer was the third daughter of Maharaja Randhir Singh of Kapurthala, with his third wife Henrietta Hodges. Henrietta was the daughter of a Kashmiri woman known as ‘Catherine’. Her father was Robert Theodore Hodges, an Anglo-Indian head-writer and political agent's officer for the Bengal Civil Service, as well as one-time tutor to Maharaja Randhir Singh’s son. Randhir Singh married the 18-year-old Henrietta in 1859. Within a decade the couple divorced. Henrietta, known as Lady Randhir Singh, took her daughters Hellen and Melvina Kaur Sahiba (born 1860) back to England in 1869, in pursuit of education and an aristocratic lifestyle. Both princesses were educated privately in London. Hellen became a member of the Royal Colonial Institute (London). During this time her mother married again (1871), to John Hamer Oliver, an eminent surgeon. This marriage ended two years later when Oliver died (1873). According to the 1881 census, the family lived in Redcliffe Road, Kensington.

In 1883 Melvina married Major Arthur Stronge Gilbert. They moved to Kelvedon Hatch, Brentwood, to a large property. They called the house Kumra Lodge, taking the name from the Gol Kothi of Kapurthala, known as Kamra Palace, the royal residence where Hellen and Melvina were born in the Punjab.

Hellen circulated within aristocratic society; however, she pursued her own interests and defied expectations placed upon noble ladies of the period. Her mother allowed her to mix unchaperoned and Hellen often modelled for the renowned artist Edwin Longsden Long, a profession discouraged amongst Indian royals, particularly princesses. Long was a well-known artist, painting biblical illustrations for popular household bibles. Hellen featured in many of his paintings including Princess Hellen Randis Singh (1880s), Anno Domini (1883), Judith of Israel (1884), Jephthah's Vow: In the Wilderness (1885–6) and Jephthah's Vow: The Martyr (1885–6). In Long’s five-metre masterpiece Anno Domini, the princess is seen on a donkey, holding a child and surrounded by the people of Egypt. Her mixed-heritage appearance was deemed relevant to the Middle Eastern characters of Long’s biblical artwork. The princess also performed in tableaux vivants, re-enacting the parts she posed for in Long’s paintings.  In addition to posing for Long, she appears in La Ghirlandata (1871–4) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Newspapers of the time often reported on the princess’s activities, sometimes in a derogatory fashion. She partook in charity activities and performed as a fortune-teller, practising palmistry. Often these fairs were held in Wead Hall, Essex, and money was collected by her regular assistant Mr Frank Landon. The Essex Herald newspaper in 1885 described how ‘The Princess Hellen Ahluwalia of Kappoorthalla [sic] altered in a handsome Eastern gipsy costume, held court in a small tent and advised the curious of their fate by palmistry.’

In 1887 Hellen caught tuberculosis and subsequently moved to 14 Cannon Place, Brighton. She died on 16 October 1887 in Brighton, aged 23 years old. On death her estate was valued at £118, which she left to her sister Melvina. She was buried at All Saints Church, Doddinghurst, Essex, where she would be joined by her mother six years later.