E-Paper
Indian princess shares how she keeps her family's royal money alive: 'Money was never unlimited'
Princess Jahnavi Kumari Mewar shared how she transformed her family’s investment business into a formal multi-family office and helped grow royal wealth.
While India’s royal titles may no longer hold official power, some former royal families are still managing vast business empires and investment portfolios behind the scenes. In a recent as-told-to essay published by Business Insider, Princess Jahnavi Kumari Mewar shared how she transformed her family’s investment business into a formal multi-family office and helped preserve and grow royal wealth.
Jahnavi Kumari Mewar belongs to the Mewar royal family of Rajasthan. According to a report by Business Insider, she said that the “last official, government-recognised king in India” was her grandfather’s elder brother before India transitioned into a democracy.
“I grew up as most kids would. The difference was that I ended up going to school within the palace with my cousins,” she recalled. She also recalled interacting with visiting dignitaries and VIPs from a young age. According to her, these early experiences helped her learn how to communicate confidently with people from different backgrounds.
The princess shared that her family had investments across sectors, including real estate, hospitality, logistics, consumer products and education. While her parents never forced her to join the business, she said she was naturally drawn towards her father’s work from childhood. “As a kid, I would run to his office and insist on sitting on his chair and signing things; they would just throw random files in front of me, which, I'm guessing, were headed to the shredder,” she said.
Jahnavi Kumari further stressed that, despite belonging to a royal family, money was “never unlimited or guaranteed”. “When I went to university, I got a car, my rent was paid for, and I got pocket money, but it was never unlimited,” she shared. She also revealed that while she was studying business and international trade in Melbourne, she worked 3 jobs - in catering, club promotion and telemarketing - while attending university.
(Also Read: Who are Princess Gauravi Kumari and Sawai Padmanabh Singh? Jaipur royals’ Met Gala debut)
How she is preserving and growing her family's multigenerational wealth
The princess said that she became deeply involved in the family business in her early 20s and began restructuring the investment company into a formal family office. One of the first changes she introduced was asking friends and relatives who co-invested with the family to start covering their own portfolio management costs. She revealed that she announced the decision publicly at a family gathering despite her father initially opposing the idea.
She also shifted the family’s investment strategy to focus more on emerging markets and direct investments while reducing dependence on intermediaries such as bankers and advisors.
“We became globally opportunistic,” she said, explaining that emerging markets were no longer treated as side bets but as long-term priorities. “We also became far more direct. Intermediation is expensive, not just in fees but in diluted accountability. We got rid of accountants, investment bankers, and pseudo-advisors,” she added.
The princess also spoke about the challenges of entering rooms dominated by older and more experienced investors, saying she often faced doubts about whether she truly belonged there. “It certainly wasn't easy, but I decided I'm just going to make myself really, really unapologetic about being in the room, but also really, really listening and learning,” she said.
At the same time, she credited older advisers and long-time associates, whom she called the “dinosaur squad”, for teaching her the importance of protecting family wealth before taking major risks. “They made me understand the absolute need for preservation before shooting the lights out,” she concluded.
