Indian singer Bir Singh takes a break from UK tour to pay homage to Maharaja Duleep Singh in Suffolk

An Indian singer has taken a break from his tour of the UK to pay homage to Maharaja Duleep Singh at his grave in Suffolk.

Bir Singh is a Punjabi singer, poet and and composer with a huge following in India with his blend of ethnic Indian-style music with modern instruments.

He laid flowers at the grave of Duleep Singh, who was the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire and lived on the Elveden Estate near Thetford, where he is buried.

Bir Singh said: "I am here because he was never allowed to enter Punjab, so Punjab comes here to meet him.

"I am from Punjab and came here to meet my Maharaja.

"He's the one we look on, he's the last king, and that's the importance of a king for an entire empire, so the empire comes here to the king."

After being exiled to Britain when he was 15, Maharaja Duleep Singh spent much of his life at Elveden and is credited with restoring the local church, cottages, and school, transforming what had been a run-down estate into an efficient one.

His grave at St Andrew & St Patrick's Church in Elveden sits alongside that of his wife Maharani Bamba and son Prince Edward Albert Duleep Singh.

Historian Peter Bance, who was at the ceremony, said: "The Maharaja converted to Christianity as a young man and most of his life he was a Christian.

"It just shows the bond between the various faiths and the people from various parts of the world coming together, so it's a shared history, not just one religion but of a number of religions."