An Indian princely wedding with old European aristocracy has become the talk of high society circles this month. Kunwar Dhruv Raj Singh of Doongri, a scion of a Rajput noble family and a relative of the Jaipur royal household, married Countess Marie Ghislaine von und zu Eltz genannt Faust von Stromberg, a Bavarian-born aristocrat with Vanderbilt ancestry, in a three-day celebration held in Bad Aussee, Austria, according to Tatler. The wedding essentially brought together European royalty and Indian nobility in the Austrian Alps.
A three-day celebration across cultures
Tatler reported that the festivities opened with a civil ceremony, followed by a boat trip on traditional wooden boats across Lake Altaussee. This was followed by a Hindu ceremony complete with Vedic rituals, before the couple exchanged vows in a Roman Catholic service.
As per ¡HOLA!, the couple chose the Stadtpfarrkirche St Paul, also known as Pfarrkirche Pauli Bekehrung, a Romanesque-Gothic church whose foundations date to before the year 1200. The magazine reported that its Chapel of Our Lady houses a celebrated 15th-century Madonna and Child, lending the ceremony a historic backdrop fitting for the occasion.
The couple arrived for the ceremony in the back of a Suzuki truck — a detail that drew particular attention online. Guests were also treated to a boat ride across the lake amid the surrounding Alpine scenery, the outlet noted.
Old-world glamour on full display
For the wedding, the bride wore an ivory satin gown with a corseted bodice and a long veil, paired with diamond jewellery that included what appeared to be a large sapphire necklace.
She was escorted down the aisle by her father, Count Peter von Eltz, while the groom wore a vibrant pagri and pocket square, complementing floral displays across the church. Guests who attended shared glimpses of the celebrations on social media.
Countess Ines de Cominges described it on Instagram as “such a special wedding,” while interior designer Marie-Anne Oudejans wrote of “dirndl dresses, Lederhosen, Magic Mountains & Beer, Love and trompettes.” American fashion designer Phoebe Dahl, granddaughter of author Roald Dahl, captioned her video from the event: “Fairytales do exist and sometimes they look like a tiny town in Austria transformed by the colours, joy, and spirit of Jaipur.”
Bloodlines that read like a royal almanac
Part of what makes this wedding notable in aristocratic circles is its lineage. The bride is a great-granddaughter of King Ludwig III of Bavaria, the last king of Bavaria, and also descends from the prominent Vanderbilt family through her grandmother, Countess Ferdinandine — placing her within the extended family tree of American broadcaster Anderson Cooper. The groom, meanwhile, comes from the Rajput noble family of Doongri and is a distant cousin of Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur.
A guest list befitting the occasion
The guest list mirrored this pedigree, with attendees including the Duke of Noto, Countess Marie Gabrielle von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, Hereditary Count Ludwig von Waldburg zu Wolfegg und Waldsee, Prince Johannes von Fuerstenberg, and Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh Bahadur of Jaipur, alongside several other European royal houses.
This was also not the groom’s first high-profile celebration — in 2019, he hosted an extravagant two-day 35th birthday event at Khimsar Fort in Rajasthan, themed “radical self-expression.” Between the layered ceremonies, storied bloodlines, and Alpine setting, the Doongri-Eltz wedding stands as one of the year’s most talked-about aristocratic unions.
