What’s the story?
As per the legend, during a stroll through town in 1930, Maharaja Jai Singh Prabhakar, the king of Alwar, visited the Rolls Royce showroom to inquire about the vehicle but was rudely shown the way out due to his ordinary appearance, unlike the rich personalities typically associated with luxury car purchases.
It is said that the king, after being dismissed due to his ordinary clothes, decided to visit the showroom again albeit in his royal attire this time. Unlike the movie Baghban, where Amitabh Bachchan had a son who owned the very showroom where he was disrespected, the Maharaja decided to give it back to the arrogant staff all by himself as he bought six cars from the showroom.
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He then went on to get these cars transported to India, where they were used to clean the streets and collect garbage. Well, if in today’s world, there’s a Rolls-Royce Spectre waiting outside to collect garbage, many of us would want to be a bag full of trash, wouldn’t we?
While, if true, it is a very aspiring tale that one should not be judged based on their appearance. There are several theories describing the incident but it said that the retaliation served its purpose as the brand, which started operating in 1906, decided to apologize for its staff’s behaviour and offered more cars to the king, all free of cost.
Rolls Royce cars have been incredibly popular in India since the 1920s as our country has had a rich heritage before the colonial era took over. Models such as the RR 20 HP, also known as ‘baby Rolls-Royce’ were some of the favourite models among the emperors.
