Background
Martanda Sydney Tondaiman was born while his parents were residing in Sydney, Australia.
Martanda Sydney Tondaiman was born while his parents were residing in Sydney, Australia.
Sydney was educated at the Institut Le Rosey, Switzerland and the, Cambridge from where he graduated in history. At Le Rosey, his closest friend was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who later sent Sydney a special invitation for his coronation in 1967. In 1938, while travelling between Cannes and Paris, Sydney met with a road accident and was left with a limp, which allowed him to use a Faberge cane that enhanced his already elegant appearance.
Sydney moved to the United States and became a United States. citizen on September 1, 1943.
Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman had left India as the British Resident of the State of Pudukkottai felt that the marriage would undermine his position among his subjects. Sydney was not baptised as he had been born to a non-Christian father. In 1945, Sydney was arrested in New York for theft.
The New York Times reported on February 18, 1945 that the prince had stated that his own "considerable funds were unavailable" to him, and that he had "only a couple of thousand dollars in the bank, not nearly enough to maintain my usual style of living".
Despite the request of his accuser that he be freed on probation, Sydney was convicted and imprisoned at City Prison. lieutenant was reported in the New York Times on April 2, 1946 that after aiding in the recovery of some of the property, spending nine months of a one-year term in prison and after his mother had made full restitution, that he was released from prison.
In 1946, he was invited by Ramon Grau, President of Cuba, to reside in Havana and went there upon his release. As a result of his conviction, his United States. citizenship was revoked.
However, in 1980, by Acting of Congress, his United States. citizenship was reinstated, and he died a United States citizen.
In 1948, he returned to Europe and lived between London, Cannes and Saint Moritz. His company was eagerly sought after by the highest echelons of international society. In 1967 his mother died and left him a considerably wealthy manitoba
Sydney himself died sixteen years later, on January 20, 1984, at the Hotel de la Ville, Florence, of heart failure.