Few hotels in India have as glorious a history as the Woodville Palace Hotel in Shimla. The first occupant of this grand estate was a person no less than the Commander-in-Chief of Imperial India! Sir William Mansfield made Woodville his home in 1866 and it remained in British hands till Maharana Bhagwat Sinh, the 20th King of Gondal (Saurashtra) bought it as a gift for his daughter, Rani Leila Ba of Jubbal (Himachal Pradesh). It was Leila Ba’s husband, Raja Rana Bhagat Chand who erected the current building (that you can see in the background) after bringing down the existing structure.