Special Episode: The Jungle Prince

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The story passed for years from tea sellers to rickshaw drivers to shopkeepers in Old Delhi. In a forest, they said, in a palace cut off from the city, lived a prince, a princess and a queen, said to be the last of a Shiite Muslim royal line. Some said the family had been there since the British had annexed their kingdom. Others said they were supernatural beings.

It was a stunning and tragic story. But was it real?

On a spring afternoon, while on assignment in India, Ellen Barry got a phone call that sent her looking for the truth.

Listen to the story below, in three parts.

“The Daily” is off for the rest of the week. We’ll be back with a new episode on Monday, Dec. 2.

“The Jungle Prince” was reported by Ellen Barry, produced by Lynsea Garrison and Sindhu Gnanasambandan, and edited by Wendy Dorr, Lisa Tobin and Michael Benoist. Original music and mixing by Brad Fisher and Dan Powell. Special thanks to Jim Yardley, Michael Slackman, Christine Kay, Suhasini Raj, Stella Tan, Julia Simon, Sam Dolnick, Shalini Venugopal, Jeffrey Gettlemen, Supriya Sobti, Nisid Hajari, Saleem Kidwai, William Dalrymple, Leonie Broekstra Pauw, Michael Simon Johnson, Julia Longoria, Austin Mitchell, David Botti, Doug Paul Alteen, Sameen Amin, Christiaan Triebert, Natalie Reneau, Deborah Basckin, Owain Rich and Ed Habershon.