 He succeeded his father as Maharaja of Jodhpur on 9 June 1947, and held the title till his death in a plane crash on 26 January 1952.In 1943 he married Maharani Krishna Kumari Ba Sahiba of Dhrangadhra by whom he had a son Gaj Singh Rathore; daughter, Sailesh Kumari married in Banswara; and daughter, Chandresh Kumari Katoch of Kangra, In 1948, he met and married 19-year-old Scottish nurse Sandra McBryde, divorcing her after a tempestuous and brief union.Later he married the Muslim actress Zubeida who converted to Hinduism as Vidya Rani Rathore, by whom he had a son named Hukum Singh Rathore (Tutu Bana), but soon after their marriage they were disowned by the royal family and as a result he left Umaid Bhawan Singh palace and started to live in Mehrangarh.