Previously owned by the Mewar royal family, it is now under the control of the Forest Department of the Government of Rajasthan and has recently been opened to the public.

[8] High in the Aravalli Hills, just outside Udaipur, the palace is illuminated in the evenings, giving a golden orange glow (see image in the infobox).

[9] The palace appeared in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy as the residence of Kamal Khan (Portrayed by Louis Jourdan), an exiled Afghan prince.

18 July 1859 d. 23 December 1884), the initial builder of the Monsoon Palace was the seventy–second ruler of the Mewar dynasty (1874–1884) and ruled from Udaipur for a short period of 10 years until his untimely death.

], he launched a massive programme of developmental activities in his kingdom, in particular, enlarging infrastructure facilities such as roads, water supply and other civil works.

He had Lake Pichola desilted and the masonry dam re-built to improve storage capacity, as well as preserving the historical heritage in line with his personal interest in the arts and culture.

The intention of the original planner, Maharana Sajjan Singh, was to build a nine-storey complex, basically as an astronomical centre and to keep track of the movement of monsoon clouds in the area surrounding the palace, and also to provide employment to people.

Before his death, he had built it partially, and it was subsequently completed by his successor king Maharana Fateh Singh who used it to watch the monsoon clouds.

At night, the illuminated palace with the Rajasthani architecture comprising domes, fountains and jharokas gives it a "fairy tale beauty".

[tone][3][10] A unique water harvesting structure to collect rainwater in an underground cistern, with a storage capacity of 195,500 litres, exists in the precincts of the palace.

[12] The palace overlooks the sanctuary, which is a reserve for reptiles, tigers, nilgai, sambhar deer, wild boars, hyenas, panthers, and jackals.

It appears as the residence of the principal villain, an exiled Afghan prince named Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan).