While many Indians acknowledge the role that royal families have played in India’s arts, culture and heritage, the relevance of these once illustrious families continues to decline in a nation where poverty is widespread and hereditary privilege is viewed by most as offensive and anachronistic.

Many royals have navigated the shift in status by merging the old with the new, such as by repurposing their centuries-old palaces into heritage hotels.

The royal family from the northern Indian town of Mandawa, known for its warriors, was among the first to open their ancestral home to heritage tourism.

The Castle Mandawa, built as a desert fortress in 1755, was converted to a luxury hotel with 80 rooms in 1980. Princess Priyanjali Katoch is involved in running the hotel, along with her family.

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Mandawa, with a population of around 25,000, is a popular tourist attraction dotted with rows of painted havelis, or town houses, with intricate frescoes on walls. The hotel employs local staff and plays a role in boosting the town’s tourism sector.

The Mandawa royal family is also involved in efforts to revive the traditional art of weaving in Gujarat.

“Privilege always comes with responsibility,” Priyanjali says. “We are always aware of our role in Mandawa, where people look up to us, and we are expected to dress a certain way and observe a certain protocol.”

Meenal Kumari Singh Deo, 52, the princess of Dhenkanal in eastern India, runs her family’s 200-year-old palace as a heritage homestay, which is furnished with arts and crafts from the region.

“In ancient India, the patronage of most art forms, music, dance and architecture, was thanks to royalty,” says Meenal, who is also a creative designer with her own crafts line.

“Even today, when I walk into the weaving village set up by our ancestors, I am overwhelmed by the respect that they have for us based on past initiatives,” she says. “I feel I have to live up to their expectations.”

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While Indian kings and queens indisputably played a role in shaping India’s history, many were known to have indulged in lavish consumption, accumulated eye-watering amounts of jewellery and opulent palaces, or were cruel to their subjects. Even so, lingering traces of generations of privilege and authority remain, even as new laws may have diminished the riches and standing of India’s royals.

And in a nation where some 176 million out of 1.3 billion Indians lived below the international poverty line of US$1.90 per day in 2015, according to the World Bank, some of the exploits of royals today continue to seem out of touch.

Vidita Singh, 40, a princess who specialises in “automotive art” – paintings of luxury cars – acknowledges that royals such as herself still lead a life of privilege even though they no longer wield power.

“I do realise that I come from a background of privilege and royalty,” says Vidita, who is of the Barwani royal family from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

“Though our parents had to brave tumultuous times and make the transition from royals to ordinary citizens, we have the advantage of that being done already for us,” she says. “I am happy I have been able to convert my illustrious heritage into a viable profession.”

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Yaduveer Singh of Bera, 24, a descendant of 16th-century warrior Maharana Pratap of Udaipur, says his parents ensured he worked his way up to become a hotelier.

“My parents insisted that I study in India, work at several hotels and get trained in everything from cleaning rooms to cooking,” he says.

He now runs his family’s palace-turned-luxury hotel in Bera, Rajasthan, an area in northern India where leopards roam free in forests. He is also involved in tracking and conservation programmes for local villagers and shepherds.

Krishna Kumari, princess of Panna in Madhya Pradesh, says she is able to flit between the two different worlds “seamlessly”.

The 48-year-old lives at her family’s ancestral palace and looks after a school her grandfather opened 32 years ago for low-income families. She also has diverse interests, having worked as a wildlife photographer for National Geographic, a rally car driver, and as a porcelain artist.

Krishna says it is important for her to leverage her position to give back to society. “You have to value where you come from and the respect that you are given, because you are part of this illustrious family,” she says.

Akshita M Bhanj Deo, 27, a communications strategist for a research institute, says the role of royalty has changed over the past decades.

“My parents always made us realise that we were custodians of our heritage and it was ours to preserve,” says the princess from the tribal state of Mayurbhanj in Orissa, eastern India. “So it was always more about responsibility than just privilege.”

Akshita, whose family says they can trace their ancestors all the way back to AD697, helped to convert their 18th-century Belgadia Palace into a sustainable boutique hotel, complete with zero-mile farming and recycled furniture.

“Royalty is not about holding court any more,” Akshita says. “It’s about having a platform and voice, and using it to solve problems and address issues in your community, as well as draw the attention of the world to India’s rich traditions and art, craft and design.”