Sree Padmanabhadasa Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma GCSI GCIE, popularly known as Sree Chithira Thirunal (7 November 1912 – 20 July 1991), was the last ruling Maharaja of the Indian princely state of Travancore, in southern India until 1949 and later the Titular Maharajah of Travancore until 1991. His reign is known for several notable reforms that have had an indelible impact on the society and culture of Kerala.

Sree Chithira Thirunal was the eldest son of Junior Maharani of Travancore, Sethu Parvathi Bayi, and Sri Pooram Nal Ravi Varma Koyi Thampuran of the Royal House of Kilimanoor. He was privately educated, and became the Maharajah of Travancore, at the age of 11, upon the death of his maternal great uncle, the then Maharajah of Travancore Sree Moolam Thirunal, on 7 August 1924. For the duration of his reign he was either under a regency or effectively controlled by his autocratic Dewan, Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer.

Upon India's independence from the British on 15 August 1947, Sree Chithira Thirunal initially chose to keep his domain an independent country. As this was unacceptable to the Government Of India, several rounds of negotiations were held between the Maharaja and the Indian representatives. Finally an agreement was reached in 1949 and Sree Chithira Thirunal agreed to merge Travancore officially as a part of the Union of India.

In 1949, Travancore was united with Cochin, and Sree Chithira Thirunal served as the first and only Rajpramukh (Governor equivalent) of the Travancore-Cochin Union from 1 July 1949 until 31 October 1956. On 1 November 1956, the state of Kerala was created by uniting the Malayalam-speaking areas of the Travancore-Cochin Union with Malabar, and Sree Chithira Thirunal's office of Rajpramukh came to an end.

Sree Chithira Thirunal was an Hon. Major General with the British Indian Army and the Colonel-in-Chief and the Supreme Commander of the Travancore Military and of the Travancore-Cochin State Forces, for the period 1924–56. He became an Hon. Colonel in the Indian Army since 1949, as the Travancore Military was integrated by him into the former, as the 9th (1st Travancore) and the 16th Battalion of the Madras Regiment (2nd Travancore).

After the Constitutional Amendment of 1971, he was stripped of his political powers and emoluments from the privy purse by the Indira Gandhi government. At the age of 78, following a stroke, he fell into a coma for nine days and died on 20 July 1991. Along with the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, many other charitable trusts were established using the funds, land and buildings provided by him.

Sree Chithira Thirunal also sponsored the higher education of a young K. R. Narayanan who went on to become the 10th President of India.

Sree Chithira Thirunal was the eldest son of Sethu Parvathi Bayi, popularly known as "Amma Maharani", the Queen Mother and Junior Maharani of Travancore, by her consort, Ravi Varma Kochu Koyi Thampuran of Royal House of Kilimanoor, a Sanskrit scholar and the great-nephew of the celebrated painter Raja Ravi Varma. He was born on Deepavali on his mother's sixteenth birthday, on 7 November 1912, as the Heir Apparent to the throne of Travancore. His siblings were Karthika Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi and Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma. Sree Chithira Thirunal's mother, Sethu Parvathi Bayi, was distantly related, by birth, to the royal house of Travancore in the direct female line. In 1900, following the absence of heirs in the Travancore royal family, she had been adopted by her maternal great-aunt. According to the matrilineal traditions of the Travancore royal family, Sree Chithira Thirunal, at the time of his birth, was proclaimed the Heir Apparent of Travancore with the title of : Sree Padmanabhadasa Maharajkumar Sree Balarama Varma II, Elaya Rajah (Crown Prince) of Travancore.