The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:
No appointments have been made since the 1948 New Year Honours, shortly after the Partition of India in 1947. Following the death in 2009 of the last surviving knight, the Tej Singh Prabhakar, Maharaja of Alwar, the order became dormant.
Sir Hari Singh Bahadur GCSI GCIE GCVO (September 1895 – 26 April 1961) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir of the Dogra dynasty.
Hari Singh was the son of Amar Singh and Bhotiali Chib. In 1923, following his uncle's death, Singh became the new Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. After Indian Independence in 1947, Singh wanted Jammu and Kashmir to remain as an independent kingdom. He acceded to the Dominion of India to get the support of Indian troops against an invasion by tribal armed men and the Pakistan Army into his state. Singh remained the titular Maharaja of the state until 1952, when the monarchy was abolished by the Indian government. After spending his final days in Bombay, he died on 26 April 1961.
Abdur Rahman Khan GCSI (Pashto; Persian: عبدالرحمن خان, between 1840 and 1844 – 1 October 1901), also known by his epithet, The Iron Emir, was Emir of Afghanistan from 1880 to his death in 1901. He is known for perpetrating the Hazara genocide, and suppressing Hazara rebels in the most brutal ways, while uniting the country after years of strong centralization, internal fighting, and negotiation of the Durand Line agreement with British India.
Abdur Rahman Khan was the only son of Mohammad Afzal Khan, and grandson of Dost Mohammad Khan, founder of the Barakzai dynasty. Abdur Rahman Khan re-established the writ of the Afghan government after the disarray that followed the second Anglo-Afghan war. He became known as The Iron Amir because of his government's military despotism. This despotism rested upon a well-appointed army and was administered through officials subservient to an inflexible will and controlled by a widespread system of espionage.
Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC (8 November 1831 – 24 November 1891), was a British statesman, Conservative politician and poet who used the pseudonym Owen Meredith. During his tenure as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. He served as British Ambassador to France from 1887 to 1891.
His tenure as Viceroy was controversial for its ruthlessness in both domestic and foreign affairs, especially for his handling of the Great Famine of 1876–1878 and the Second Anglo-Afghan War. His son Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton, who was born in India, later served as Governor of Bengal and briefly as acting Viceroy. The senior earl was also the father-in-law of the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, who designed New Delhi.
Field-Marshal His Highness Maharaja Sri Teen Chandra Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana GCB GCSI GCMG GCVO FRGS (8 July 1863 – 26 November 1929) was the Prime Minister of Nepal from the Rana dynasty. He served in this capacity from 27 June 1901 to his death in 1929 after he successfully deposed his liberal and reformist brother Dev Shamsher. Although generally perceived as despotic and conservative, he is credited with several reforms including the abolition of slavery and establishing the Nepal-Britain Treaty of 1923, which recognised Nepal as an independent nation and an ally of Britain.