If one were to visit Kensington Palace expecting the usual glittering display of royal jewelry, one exhibit in the new show The Last Princesses of Punjab challenges that assumption. Rather than simply a symbol of wealth and status, a mid-19th century pendant on display tells a story of bravery, compassion, and life-saving intervention during one of history’s darkest chapters. This jewel, which has never before been shown publicly, belonged to Ursula Hornstein, a Jewish girl who fled Germany with her family just months before the outbreak of the Second World War. It was given to her by Catherine Duleep Singh, one of the last princesses of Punjab, who personally sponsored the family’s escape to Britain. Times UK reports that the exhibition, opening on March 26, brings this hidden history to light, allowing visitors to witness not only the beauty of the piece but the courage behind it.
Michael Bowles, Ursula Hornstein’s youngest son, said it was both “an honour and a privilege” for his family to share their story. The pendant, he explained, symbolizes Catherine’s remarkable humanity. “It’s an incredible testament to someone being kind and generous,” Bowles said. “For our family, it is enormously powerful that someone would have taken the trouble to do that.”
The exhibition, curated by Polly Putnam, delves into the lives of Catherine and her sisters, Sophia Duleep Singh and Bamba Sutherland. Descendants of the Sikh Empire’s last maharajah, Duleep Singh, the sisters lived in exile but carved extraordinary lives within British society. They became well-known figures, with Queen Victoria serving as godmother to Sophia, and they engaged actively in political and social causes of the time. Catherine’s bravery during the Nazi threat is among their most poignant legacies, but the sisters also played prominent roles in the suffragette movement and supported marginalized communities, including early advocacy for the South Asian LGBTQ+ population. Putnam remarked, “They’re fundamentally fascinating people. By focusing in on this extraordinary family, we get to touch on various aspects of history.”
The story of the pendant begins in a doctor’s surgery in Kassel, central Germany, in 1938. Catherine, who had spent time in the city living with her partner Lina Schäfer, encountered Ursula’s mother, Ilse Hornstein, almost by chance. Ilse, unaware of the woman’s royal status, confided that her husband faced imminent danger at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Catherine, moved immediately, offered to act as guarantor for the family’s immigration to Britain. Ilse then gained access to the Gestapo offices in disguise and secured her husband’s release, citing his First World War service. The family eventually reached England in 1939, and the pendant was gifted to Ursula when she converted to Christianity, cementing a lifelong bond.
Catherine did not limit her humanitarian efforts to the Hornsteins. She also guaranteed the safety of Wilhelm Meyerstein and Marieluise Wulff, and sheltered families named Reich and Gurtmann, saving dozens of lives. She died in Buckinghamshire in 1942, yet her legacy lives on in the stories preserved in the exhibition. Bowles noted, “The pendant is a real treasure — it was a keepsake for my mother and it symbolises to us what kindness and generosity mean. I just hope that refugees in similar situations would be treated with the same kindness.”
Other items on display further illustrate the sisters’ remarkable lives. Jind Kaur, the sisters’ grandmother and last maharani of Punjab, is represented through several pieces of jewelry and a portrait by George Richmond. Kaur, regent for her son Duleep Singh, was exiled after the Anglo-Sikh war and separated from her child for 13 years. Putnam explained that even the preparatory sketch for the Richmond painting conveys the resilience and endurance of a woman who had “escaped and walked thousands of miles across mountains.” The exhibition reassembles objects connected to the sisters and their ancestors, some for the first time since they were dispersed across Europe and Britain.
Sophia Duleep Singh, goddaughter of Queen Victoria, is remembered for her suffragette activism, including a photograph selling The Suffragette newspaper outside Hampton Court Palace and a censored 1911 census form that protested women’s disenfranchisement. Bamba Sutherland, meanwhile, sought to reclaim her family’s legacy in Lahore after India’s partition, asserting claims to lands taken by the British during colonial rule. These stories underscore a legacy not only of royal descent but of political and social influence across continents.
The exhibition thus bridges disparate histories: the fall of a Punjabi empire, the suffrage movement in England, and the desperate flight of Jewish families from Nazi persecution. Central to this narrative is a single jewel — a pendant — that embodies courage, compassion, and connection across cultures and generations. It stands as a rare, tangible reminder that the actions of one individual can alter the course of many lives. Visitors to Kensington Palace now have the chance to witness this jewel and the remarkable history it represents, transforming what might have been seen as mere royal ornamentation into a symbol of enduring humanity.
