She was renowned for her beauty, energy and strength of purpose and was popularly known as Rani Jindan, but her fame is derived chiefly from the fear she engendered in the British in India, who described her as "the Messalina of the Punjab".

After the Sikhs lost the First Anglo-Sikh War she was replaced in December 1846 by a Council of Regency, under the control of a British Resident.

[5] In January 1861 Duleep Singh was allowed to meet his mother in Calcutta and took her with him back to England, where she remained until her death in Kensington, London, on 1 August 1863 at the age of 46.

The feudal chiefs wanted a reduction in the taxation imposed on them by Hira Singh and the restoration of their jagirs, land grants from which they received income.

The power struggle between the various Sikh factions was continuing and some were secretly negotiating with the British East India Company forces amassing on the border.

In tackling these problems, the Maharani had the advice and support of the newly appointed council of elder statesmen and military leaders.

Gulab Singh was allowed to return to Jammu after paying a fine of 6,800,000 rupees (68 lakh) and promising future good behaviour.

However Jawahar Singh had decided that he posed too great a risk to the young Maharaja and he was secretly taken back to Attock and strangled.

She stayed in Amar Bikram Shah's house for a few months before she decided to come out of her hiding and approach the then Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana.

The Rani was given asylum by the Prime Minister of Nepal and Jung Bahadur Rana with full dignity as a Queen consort of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

In November 1856 Jung Bahadur Rana sent the Governor-General of India a letter which he had intercepted from Duleep Singh to Jind Kaur, suggesting that she come to England.

However, shortly afterwards Duleep Singh commissioned Pundit Nehemiah Goreh to visit Kathmandu on his behalf and find out how his mother was managing.

In 1860 he wrote to the British Resident in Kathmandu, enclosing his letter in one from Sir John Login so that it would not be intercepted or dismissed as a forgery.

The hotel was surrounded by thousands of armed Sikhs and the Governor-General, Lord Canning, requested Duleep Singh, as a favour, to leave for England with his mother by the next boat.

[16] During the passage to England, Duleep Singh wrote to Sir John Login, who had been his guardian throughout his adolescence in British hands, asking him to find a house for his mother near Lancaster Gate.

She had heard tales of the Maharani's beauty and influence and strength of will and was curious to meet the woman who had wielded such power.

"Yet the moment she grew interested and excited in a subject, unexpected gleams and glimpses through the haze of indifference and the torpor of advancing age revealed the shrewd and plotting brain of her, who had once been known as the 'Messalina of the Punjab'.

The portrait of the Maharani by George Richmond shows her wearing some of the jewels, including the emerald and pearl necklace, which was sold by auction on 8 October 2009 at Bonhams for £55,200.

[5] In the morning of 1 August 1863 Maharani Jind Kaur died peacefully in her sleep in Abingdon House, Kensington.

Cremation was illegal in Great Britain before 1885 and Duleep Singh was refused permission to take his mother's body to the Punjab, so it was kept for a while in the Dissenters' Chapel in Kensal Green Cemetery.

In the spring of 1864 the Maharaja obtained permission to take the body to Bombay in India, where it was cremated, and he erected a small samadhi in memory of his mother on the Panchavati side of the Godavari River.

[19] In 1997, a marble headstone with her name was uncovered during restorations at the Dissenters' Chapel in Kensal Green and in 2009 a memorial to the Maharani was installed at the site.

[20] In 2010, The Rebel Queen, a docudrama short was released by Michael Singh and starred Indian actress Diana Pinto as the Maharani.