His father was Fatehsinghhrao Gaekwad and his mother was Padmavati Bai Saheba. His father was heir apparent, but died at the age of 23 before he could ascend to the throne. Fatehsinghrao's father, Sayajirao Gaekwad III, abstained from alcohol, but Fatehsinghrao was a heavy drinker, which may have contributed to his early death. Sayajirao was disappointed in his son's mediocre academic performance, which he attributed to his children having so much wealth and too few goals.
Marriages and children Pratapsinghhrao married twice. In 1929, he married Shantadevi (1914–2002), the daughter of Sardar Mansinhrao Subbarao Ghorpade of
Hasur, in
Kolhapur state. The couple had three sons and five daughters: •
Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad II (2 April 1930 – 1 September 1988), who succeeded as the Maharaja of Baroda. He married the only daughter of Maharaja Umaid Singh of
Jodhpur. They did not have children, and therefore his brother Ranjitsingh succeeded him as Maharaja of Baroda. •
Mrunalini Raje Gaekwad (25 June 1931 – 1 January 2015). Was given in marriage to Maharaja Anandrao II Puar of
Dhar. • Premila Raje Gaekwad (17 April 1933 – present). She was given in marriage to the Darbar Sahib (ruling prince) of
Jasdan state in
Kathiawar, a former Kathi Kshatriya state. She has one daughter and one son, the present Durbar Sahib of Jasdan, who is married to the daughter of Premila's brother Ranjitsinh, Maharaja of Baroda (see below) • Sarala Raje Gaekwad (1935–present). Renamed Sattvashila Raje Bhonsle upon her wedding, she was given in marriage to her first cousin, Raja Shivram Sawant Bhonsle, ruler of Sawantwadi state, who is the son of her father's sister. She has one son, the present Raja of Sawantwadi, and one daughter. • Vasundharadevi Raje Gaekwad (4 October 1936 – present). She was given in marriage to the Raja of
Sandur in
Karnataka, Raja Murarrao Yeshwantrao Ghorpade, who was at one time a minister in the Karnataka government. She has three sons and one daughter, including the present Raja of Sandur. •
Ranjitsinhrao Gaekwad (8 May 1938 – 9 May 2012), who succeeded his brother as the Maharaja of Baroda. Married to a daughter of the Jadhav family, who are nobles of
Gwalior state, he had one son,
Samarjitsinh Gaekwad, who succeeded him as titular Maharaja of Baroda, and two daughters. The elder daughter is married to her cousin the ruler of
Jasdan in
Kathiawar (see above), while the younger daughter has been married twice. Her first husband was Uraaz Bahl, a nephew of the socialite
Parmeshwar Godrej, and her second husband is a Bengali corporate executive settled in
New Zealand. • Lalitadevi Raje Gaekwad (3 December 1939 – 1 March 2010). Was given in marriage to Dr. Amritrao Kirdatt of Dhamtari in
Chhattisgarh, a
Maratha nobleman. She has five children, being in order of birth Aditya Kirdutt, Kavita Mohite (daughter), Sarita Shreyas (daughter), Shailesh Kirdatt and Chirayu Kirdatt. •
Sangramsinhrao Gaekwad (6 August 1941 – present). Married Asha Rajyalakshmi Devi (born 1946), fourth daughter of Arjun Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana of the
Rana family of
Nepal. He has one son and one daughter: • Pratapsinhrao Sangramsinhrao Gaekwad (26 August 1971 – present). He married Praggyashri, youngest daughter of
Pyar Jung Thapa, former COAS of the Royal
Nepal Army, and a member of the Rana family of
Nepal; no issue. • Priyadarshini Raje (1975–), the present Maharani of Gwalior, as wife of
Jyotiraditya Scindia, Maharaja of
Gwalior. She had one son and one daughter. In the early 1940s, Pratapsinhrao fell in love with a married woman,
Sita Devi, a daughter of Maharajah
Rao Venkata Kumara Mahipati Surya Rau Maharaja of
Pitapuram, who was already married to the Raja of Vuyyur and a mother of three children. He married her in 1943, after she had secured a divorce from her husband. This was in defiance of the anti-bigamy laws that his grandfather had imposed. The couple had one son, Sayajirao Gaekwad (8 March 1945 – 8 May 1985), who died unmarried. ==Titles==