They knew each other from playing polo: Kuldip Singh Dhillon, a friend of King Charles, died unexpectedly at the age of 72. A controversy arose over the nickname Charles gave him.
He was only 72 years old: Kuldip Singh Dhillon died unexpectedly at a wedding in India. Dhillon was born in the country in 1950 but moved to England with his family when he was four years old.
In the 1970s he met Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Queen Consort. Camilla and her then-husband Andrew Parker Bowles were frequent guests at Dhillon’s Gloucestershire home.
Charles controversy
In 1975 Dhillon became a member of Cirencester Park Polo Club, of which he would remain a member until the end of his life and of which he was chairman at the time of his death. He was also nicknamed “Sooty” at the club. The name came about while playing against members of the Royal Family.
And a controversy later arose around this nickname. Because “Sooty” also refers to the gene that changes the color of a horse by mixing in black hair. In the context of a native Indian in a polo club dominated by white Englishmen, this name is not entirely unproblematic.
Despite this, Dhillon himself always emphasized that he had no problems with the nickname and that his friends liked to be called that. In 2009 he defended Charles, then Prince of Wales, against accusations of being racist. “You know you’ve arrived when you get a nickname,” he said at the time.
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Kuldip Singh Dhillon worked as a real estate developer and amassed an enormous fortune. He leaves behind a wife and four children: two daughters and two sons. His younger son, Satnam, even made it onto the English national polo team. Prince Harry and heir to the throne Prince William were also friends with him.
The death came as a complete surprise: according to the “Daily Mail”, Dhillon is said to have been in excellent health.
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Source: Stern
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