 For my family, being royalty is secondary. 
We plucked her out of our best-dressed list and took a closer look at a rising politician's cool, young wife. Verve gets an exclusive peek into the myriad worlds of Priyadarshini Raje Scindia, ebullient spouse of the newly-elected Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Once upon a time, in a crowded city by the sea, in a plush residential area on a hill, dwelled a princess. A real, live princess. She led a rather normal life, attended Mumbai's Fort Convent School and later Sophia College. Every few months, she visited her ancestral fiefdom and palace in Baroda. The palace was just home, not an issue at all.
Today, in her parents' Breach Candy apartment, Priyadarshini Raje Scindia has slipped into a pair of favourite Gap jeans and her dad's outsized white T-shirt. I wonder about the influences that have shaped her flair for style. A childhood inspiration, she admits, was her mother, Asha Raje Gaekwad, who wore her own creations, always distinct and beautiful in whatever she wore.
Slipping easily into the role of New Age political wife, Priya epitomises a new breed of woman who delights in becoming a seamless part of her husband's life and work. At home in her husband's constituency, her head covered in deference to a prevailing purdah system, the women finally found an ear to speak out to. And Priya listened, because, she maintains that, at the end of the day, it is the woman who has to feed her child and in-laws.
And so 'best-dressed' does take on a new dimension in the case of the little princess. An ability to be facile about switching from traditional to modern, seamlessly as her life switches in an attempt to keep up with her husband's, be it Mumbai, Delhi or Gwalior. And, her own favourite look? "Jeans. I am embarrassed to say, jeans…."
Priya loves being in Gwalior with her two kids, Mahanaaryaman and Ananya. And while her mother-in-law would happily burn every pair of jeans that she has ever gotten into, Priya admires her and realises that you do not need to wear labels to look 'wonderful'.
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