 Born a "Rajkumar" in the princely family of Kapurthala, Singh was born in Srinagar, in what was then the salute state of Jammu and Kashmir.He is the elder son of Maharajkumar Karamjit Singh (1896-1967), the second son of Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala.Educated at the Doon School and at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Singh subsequently read for an MA at St Catharine's College, Cambridge.