Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter |

UK, Ancient House Museum has been awarded nearly 200,000 pounds in grant by the National Lottery Heritage  Fund to mark the legacy of Maharajah Duleep Singh, the last ruler of the Sikh empire.

Ancient House Museum in Norfolk's Thetford was awarded the money on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, according to the BBC report.

The museum was founded by Prince Frederick Duleep Sigh, the son of Maharajah Duleep Singh in 1942.

The awarded money of £198,059k will be used to tell the family's story through displays.

Ancient House Museum is now going to start a two-year project to showcase "the fascinating history of the Duleep Singh family", said Robyn Llewellyn, the director of England, Midlands and east for the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Norfolk County Council notified that the new displays would include "a sumptuous 'treasury' of Anglo-Punjab history, a model of Elveden Hall, a loan of a portrait of Duleep Singh and displays marking the family's contributions and activism to achieve universal suffrage".

The museum also is planning to exhibit the family's items, such as Duleep Singh's walking stick, which was given to him by King Edward VII, the Prince of Wales in the late 1800s; "shows the connection between Maharajah Duleep Singh and Edward the Prince of Wales" said Oliver Bone, curator of the Ancient House Museum in Thetford.

"Through the foresighted generosity of Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, Ancient House Museum has served the people of Thetford and beyond preserving the history of the town and surrounding area for the past 100 years." said Margaret Dewsbury, the Conservative cabinet member for communities at Norfolk County Council 

The project has received further funding from the Thetford Town Council community grant, the Friends of Thetford Museum, Norfolk County Council and Arts Council England.

Prince Frederick Victor Duleep Singh also known as Prince Freddy, was a younger son of Sir Duleep Singh, the last ruler (Maharaja) of the Sikh Empire in the region of Punjab in 1799.

On 23 October 1893, Victor at the death of his father, Maharaja Duleep Singh, succeeded him as Head of the Royal House of the Punjab.

At the age of 15, Duleep Singh arrived in England and later made his home at Elveden Hall in Suffolk, where his family continued their residence till the next century.

Victor was deeply interested in archaeology, contributing articles to various periodicals and became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He was East Anglia representative of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and reported on about 50 historic building cases for it.

Prince Frederick gave to the town of Thetford the timber-framed Ancient House (now a museum) together

with his collection of portraits.