Son of a sister of King Rajadhi Raja Singha’s Queen Upendramma. The new king who ascended the throne was Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the former kings’ nephew, barely 18 years old. He would also be the last king of the Kandy Nayakar dynasty and the last of Sri Lanka.During his time the British colony was fully established on other parts of Sri Lanka.
There was a rival claimant to succeed King Rajadhi Raja Singha, the brother of Queen Upendramma, who had a stronger claim. However, Pilimatalawe, the first Adigar (prime Minister) choose the South Indian Prince to the Kandyan Throne, with reportedly deep seated plans to usurp the throne to set a new dynasty of his own. The young king, upon ascending the throne had to face lot of conspiracies.
During his time, the British who had succeeded the Dutch in the Maritime Provinces had not interfered in the politics of the Kandy. But Pilimatalava, the first Adigar of the king started covert operations with the British, to provoke the King into acts of aggression, which would give the British an excuse to seize the Kingdom. Later the King had to execute Pilimatalawe for attempting to murder him, after two previous pardons on treachery.
The new First Adigar Ehalepola, Pilimatalawe nephew was no better as the British quickly won his support. A rebellion instigated by him Ehalepola was suppressed and Ehalepola fled to Colombo and joined the British. After failing to surrender (after 3 weeks of notice), the exasperated king ordered the execution of his family. A propogandised account of the execution was widely circulated by sympathisers, however the veracity of these accounts are questionable.
Now the British marched into Kandy, after gaining people support, who were eager to dispose the king. The King was taken as a royal prisoner to Vellore Fort, near Madras along with his family members.
He was living on a small allowance given to him and his two queens by the British Government. It is claimed that this allowance was paid to his next-of-kin for next 156 years and stopped only when Sri Lanka regained its sovereignty in 1948