"Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, age 21, at the time of her marriage, 1940.She was born into the royal family of Cooch Behar, one of around 560 ""princely states"" that existed in India. She was just 12 when she first met the then-21-year-old Maharaja of Jaipur, the urbane, polo-playing Sawai Man Singh II. The prince already had two wives, both essentially for political reasons, but in 1940 the pair shocked blue-blooded society by announcing their plans to marry."