The Curious Case of “Mr A”: Maharaja Hari Singh and a Colonial-Era Blackmail Scandal

An Indian Maharaja, a woman named Mrs Robinson, a demand for hush money, and a scandal. This unlikely mixture once unsettled the British establishment in the early 20th century.Maharaja Hari Singh (1895–1961), the last ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, was once caught in a hotel room in Paris with a jockey’s wife. This led to him being blackmailed for money. The episode came to be known as the “Mr A” blackmail case and was widely covered by newspapers in Europe and America.Maharaja Pratap Singh of Jammu and Kashmir had sent his young nephew, Hari Singh, the prince regent, on a tour of Europe. The year was 1921. The Maharaja was just 26 at the time and had already been married twice. Dr Hari Desai, in an article published in Asian

Voice, quoted diplomat and historian K. M. Panikkar. Panikkar described a plot to involve the young prince in a compromising situation with a woman and then blackmail him. He wrote: “A few years before assuming his gaddi, Hari Singh made a journey to England. A gang of criminals in London plotted to defraud him of vast sums of money. The leader of the plot was a lawyer named Hobbs, and he was abetted by an Englishman named Captain Arthur, who was the Maharaja’s A.D.C. The woman they used was Mrs Robinson. Captain Arthur helped to introduce her to Hari Singh as a rich widow. The prince became enamoured of her and set out for Paris in her company.”Read: A Mysterious Reincarnation Case from India: When Sumitra Died and Returned as ShivaA report published in Time magazine on 5 October 1925 stated: “Rajah Sir Hari Singh of Kashmir fell foul of his own indiscretion and of a rascally pack of blackmailers. Having surprised him in Paris, at a moment when he was closeted in a hotel room with a certain Mrs Robinson, they extracted $750,000 of ‘hush money’.” The Maharaja paid the sum to avoid becoming entangled in a divorce case. According to the book Chancers: Scandal, Blackmail, and the Enigma Code by Barbara Jeffery, the so-called “Mayfair Mob” had orchestrated the entire affair.The blackmailers eventually turned on one another over the money, and in 1924 a lawsuit was filed after the scheme was exposed. What followed was sensational: a court case that gripped public attention for eight days in 1924. The British government imposed extraordinary secrecy, keeping the files closed for a hundred years rather than the usual thirty.Throughout the proceedings, the Maharaja, who was the victim in the case, was referred to only as “Mr A”. The trial drew immense public interest, with crowds queuing outside the courtroom from early morning. Major newspapers such as The Times and The Daily Telegraph devoted full pages to the case.Read: The Maharaja of Indore, a Courtesan, and a Murdered Lover: The Case That Rocked Colonial India in 1925Speculation over the identity of Mr A was intense. On 3 December 1924, the India Office finally permitted his name to be disclosed. The announcement was first made on the London radio station 2LO. Soon after, all major newspapers confirmed that Mr A was Maharaja Hari Singh, the central figure in one of the most sensational blackmail cases of the era.