He succeeded his father as the Maharaja of Jodhpur of the Rathore dynasty of Marwar on 9 June 1947 and held the title till his death at a young age in a plane crash on 26 January 1952.

Later he married the Muslim actress Zubeida who converted to Hinduism as Vidya Rani, by whom he had a son named Hukum Singh Rathore (Tutu Bana).

[3] After their death, their son Tutu was brought up by Rajmata Krishna Kumari of Jodhpur, and later went to study at Mayo College in Ajmer.

[4] After Indian independence and formation of Rajasthan as a state within India, he formed a new political party, Akhil Bhartiya Ramrajya Parishad in 1952.

Campaigning in both the Indian general and state Assembly elections scheduled for February 1952, Hanwant Singh would have won a majority in his region.