New Delhi | August 27, 2026: Some evenings decorate a room. Others let the room’s history speak for itself. Royal Fables Season XVI – The Heirloom Series, which drew to a close on August 19 at The Oval Room, The Mansion & Ballroom, Hyatt Regency, New Delhi, belonged firmly to the latter — a celebration built not around spectacle, but around the slow, deliberate art of craftsmanship passed down through hands, houses and centuries. Over 80 heritage brands, royal families, master artisans, designers, collectors and cultural custodians gathered to honour exactly that.
The season opened with Khushboo Singh and was curated with characteristic discernment by Anshu Khanna, Founder & Director of Royal Fables, alongside her curatorial partner, Charu Singh. Together, the two have built The Heirloom Series into something rarer than an exhibition — a living archive, where heritage is treated not as decoration but as inheritance: memory, identity and artistic knowledge, handed forward rather than merely displayed.
That sense of inheritance was written into the guest list itself. Maharani Nivritti Kumari of Mewar, Princess Akshita Bhanjdeo of Mayurbhanj, Yuvrani Meenal Singh Deo, Rajkumari Jemma Yashasvini Kumari of Dhenkanal, Rajkumari Gitanjali Shah of Tehri–Mandawa, Prince Yaduveer Singh of Bera, Rani Jaykirti Singh of Baria, Kanwarani Kamini Singh of Seohara, Harshaditya Jadeja of Tera and Kunwarani Ritu Sinh of Wankaner were among those present — custodians, in their own right, of the very traditions the evening set out to celebrate.
At the heart of the exhibition stood Palace Karkhana, a masterful showcase of royal textiles, block prints, natural weaves, chikankari, palace jewellery and artisanal beauty traditions — craft not as museum pieces, but as living practice. Around it, miniature art, wildlife art, furniture and photography extended the conversation, while contemporary interpretations of India’s artistic heritage made the case that tradition, rightly handled, is never frozen in time.
The idea of the “heirloom” itself was gently widened to include taste and touch, not just textile and stone. Aumra – The Mithai Atelier turned culinary heritage into something one could savour rather than simply admire. Nanagram Fine Jewels presented natural diamond and gemstone jewellery of quiet, considered beauty, while Atul Jewellers offered vintage pieces drawn from princely collections and state auctions — jewels with histories longer than most institutions. The Sterling Affaire completed the tableau with a striking silver installation, craftsmanship rendered in its most luminous form.
The evening found its most affecting moment in Sunehri Shaam, where Padma Shri Dr. Soma Ghosh, the celebrated exponent of the Banaras Gharana, performed thumris, kajris, dadras and ghazals with a mastery that briefly, unmistakably, brought the musical culture of India’s courts into the present room.
A Closing Chapter, Told Intimately
The season‘s final note was struck away from the main exhibition — at the Naina Balsawer’s residence, in an evening held in collaboration with Mehfil House and Diljeet Titus. Here, in a more intimate setting, royalty, cultural figures, designers and longtime friends of Royal Fables came together in the unhurried spirit of a traditional mehfil — a fitting close to a season built entirely around craft, continuity and cultural memory.
Anshu Khanna, Founder & Director, Royal Fables, said:
“Royal Fables has always believed that our greatest inheritance lies not only in the objects we preserve, but in the knowledge, artistry and traditions they represent. The Heirloom Series brought these stories together and celebrated the people who continue to keep them alive.”
Charu Singh, Curator, Royal Fables, added:
“The Heirloom Series was an invitation to rediscover India through craftsmanship, stories, textures, sounds and flavours. Sunehri Shaam and the closing mehfil beautifully completed this journey, reminding us that heritage is something we experience, celebrate and carry forward.”
What Season XVI ultimately celebrated was not nostalgia, but continuity — the understanding that India’s true luxury has never been about newness, but about the time, skill and imagination embedded in what is made by hand, generation after generation.