Rao Raja Mahendra Singh | Sardar Samand Palace | Bal Samand Lake Palace | cousin and chief executive officer

Inside, aides-de-camp scurry around Rao Raja Mahendra Singh, the Maharaja's cousin and chief executive officer, asking for signatures and bringing Chai (tea). He zeroes in on the maharaja's most obvious material asset, the palace next door. Once one of the largest palaces in the world, it was free and clear in the pretax days. After, imagine the financial liability. "The palace was His Highness' home, and suddenly it was his white elephant," Mahendra Singh says.

To get the elephant out of the living room and out earning its keep, the maha­raja teamed up with WelcomHeritage (which has ties to Sheraton) to transform the palace into an income-producing property where, for about $350 a night, you too can live like a maharaja. He kept one wing as private quarters for his family, and they live there today.

"By that time, so many changes had taken­ place in India, the people were behind [the change from palace to hotel]," the maharaja says. "We did it gradually. Being one of the newest palaces in the world, it was easy in some respects; others we did in phases. Turning the palace into a hotel was an engine for change."

He quickly followed suit with two other Jodhpur palaces, Bal Samand Lake Palace and Sardar Samand Palace. The former royal hunting grounds became a lake resort. The Queen's Orchard is a garden resort. The Royal Tented Camps at Sardar Samand Palace, one of the maha­raja's newer enterprises, are now rentable, modern adaptations of a turn-of-the-­century safari, minus the big game. "Today I love to visit Sardar Samand," muses His Highness. "It was my grandfather's hunting retreat. It's an hour's drive, on a lake, with a beautiful view. It's very peaceful."