Meet Indian king who married 10 times, had 88 children and 350 concubines, he was...

Of all the Indian royals, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of the former princely state of Patiala was the most extravagant. Bhupinder Singh was the man behind these emblems of grandeur, which included the fabled Patiala Necklace and the well-known Patiala Peg. In 1891, Bhupinder Singh, a Jat Sikh, was born into the Phulkian dynasty and ascended to the throne at the age of nine.

He was an avid eater, and in their book Freedom at Midnight, Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre state that "He could polish off 20 pounds of food in a day or two chickens as a tea-time snack." His insatiable hunger went beyond sustenance.

In addition, he gained notoriety for supposedly having 350 concubines and fathering 88 children, 52 of whom lived to adulthood. He had ten marriages; Rajmata Vimala Kaur was his favourite, and the two frequently travelled overseas and gave public appearances.

He had a carefully chosen harem that eventually held 350 women. He would show personal interest in his concubines, hiring jewellers, hair stylists, and perfumers. He even employed a group of plastic surgeons from Britain and France to alter the concubines' looks to his liking.

James Sherwood (Henry Poole & Co.) wrote the following about Bhupinder Singh: "In Patiala, it was said that the Maharaja would position naked favourites from his harem around his iced swimming pool so he could steal a caress or a sip of whisky while he swam." His bedroom even had sensual sculptures on the ceiling.