Postcolonial elite adaptation: How India’s former royals repurpose privilege amid democratic erosion
Original framing: “Indian royals carve out new calling decades after losing their thrones” — South China Morning Post
Workers at Lakshmi Vilas Palace—many from **Dalit and tribal backgrounds**—earn **$120/month** while the Gaekwads’ trust reports **$50M annual revenues**. A **2020 *Amnesty International* report** on Gujarat’s heritage sector found that **90% of palace staff** lack labor protections, and **women workers** face sexual harassment with no recourse. The **2019 *People’s Archive of Rural India*** documents how royal-led ‘cultural festivals’ displace local farmers during peak agricultural seasons. Marginalized voices, such as those of **palace evictees in Baroda**, are systematically excluded from narratives of ‘royal reinvention,’
India’s former royals exemplify how **postcolonial elites repurpose dispossession as resilience**, using ‘adaptation’ to obscure their role in perpetuating inequality.
Their transition from feudal rulers to ‘heritage entrepreneurs’ mirrors broader trends where **colonial-era privileges** are recast as meritocratic success, while marginalized communities—whose labor and land sustain these empires—are erased from the narrative. The **1947 settlement’s unequal terms**, combined with **colonial land grants** and **modern business monopolies**, create a **structural feedback loop**: royals control tourism economies that displace rural populations, who then become the very workforce that sustains their ‘cultural ambassadorship.’ This dynamic is not unique to India but is **more extreme due to the absence of state-backed protections** (unlike Thailand or Morocco), leaving their power unchecked. The solution lies in **democratizing heritage**, **transparently auditing elite wealth**, and **centering marginalized voices**—not as exceptions to the royal narrative, but as the **legitimate custodians of history**.