fell from above, killing Udam Singh and injuring the prince. Dhian Singh, who was a few steps behind, immediately arranged for the prince to be taken into the fort. Nobody else was allowed into the fort, not even his mother, Chand Kaur, who beat on the fort gates with her bare hands in a fever of anxiety. Eyewitnesses stated that before he was taken into the fort the prince appeared to be only slightly injured, was conscious and asked for water. However, when his mother and friends were allowed in to see him, he was dead with severe injuries to his head. Reign After the deaths of Kharak Singh and Nau Nihal Singh, Dhian Singh supported the claim of Sher Singh, the son of Ranjit Singh's estranged first wife, Mehtab Kaur. Chand Kaur turned to Gulab Singh for support. A compromise was proposed that Chand Kaur should adopt Sher Singh's son Pratap Singh. However, she pointed out that Nau Nihal's widow, Maharani Sahib Kaur, was pregnant and might give birth to a rightful successor. The arrival in Lahore of two powerful opponents of Sher Singh, Sardar Atar Singh Sandhawalia and Sardar Ajit Singh Sandhawalia, settled the matter. On 2 December 1840 Chand Kaur was proclaimed Maharani of the Punjab, with the title Malika Muqaddasa, Empress Immaculate. On 13 January, Sher Singh arrived in Lahore. The regiments outside the city walls went over to his side, leaving Chand Kaur with 5,000 men and a limited quantity of gunpowder against a force of 26,000 infantry, 8,000 horse and 45 guns. Chand Kaur's troops in the fort fought for two days, but Dhian Singh arrived on the evening of 17 January and arranged a ceasefire. Chand Kaur was persuaded to accept a pension and relinquish her claim to the throne, and on 27 January Sher Singh was formally anointed as Maharaja. Retirement and assassination In July 1841 Sahib Kaur's son was stillborn, ending any justification for a renewed claim to the regency. The dowager Maharani retired to the haveli of Nau Nihal Singh, her son, in Lahore and received a pension of rupees. However her enemies still saw her as a threat and she was battered to death with wooden pikes by her servants on 11 June 1842. Her samadhi, Maharani Chand Kaur Samadhi, is located near Gumat, Jammu. A magnificent gurudwara, known as Gurudwara Maharani Chand Kaur, has also come on the