Word: thondup
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DIED. Palden Thondup Namgyal, 58, former King of Sikkim, who defied tradition and married an American debutante, Hope Cooke, in 1963; of complications following cancer surgery; in New York City. Known for his efforts to modernize the tiny Himalayan kingdom, he lost his power in a 1973 coup and was formally deposed in 1975. He and his wife, who had returned to the U.S. with their two children, divorced...
...years ago, when Prince Palden Thondup Namygal was crowned Chogyal (King) of Sikkim, his young wife, Sarah Lawrence Graduate Hope Cooke, became "Queen of the Happy Valley" and "Consort of Deities." Together they pledged to make the tiny storybook kingdom "a paradise on earth." They also hoped to make Sikkim, an Indian protectorate since 1950, more economically and politically independent. That was a fairy tale not to be. Last week India's Parliament voted to make Sikkim India's 22nd state. It was the last act of a sequence that saw Sikkim's 300-year-old monarchy...
When Sikkim's benign and enlightened King Palden Thondup Namgyal was crowned eight years ago in Gang-tok, he offered this pledge for himself and his queen, former New York Debutante Hope Cooke: "Together may we make Sikkim a paradise on earth." Today, Indian troops patrol his capital and his dreams of paradise look dark...
Five years ago, during the elaborate ceremonies marking her marriage to Palden Thondup Namgyal, court musicians sang that "a flower of the West blossoms among us." Today it is clear that at 28 the whispery-voiced Gyalmo (Queen) has not only blossomed but put down sturdy roots as well. Her two children, Prince Palden, 4, and Princess Hope Leezum, 18 months, are thriving, and the Gyalmo almost singlehanded has succeeded in reviving Sikkim's long-dormant cottage industry. Sikkim now exports to the world, and two chic Manhattan stores carry deep-pile rugs and gold and silver jewelry painstakingly...
Born. To Hope Cooke, 27, Manhattan-born socialite who left the U.S. five years ago to become Queen of the Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim, and King Palden Thondup Namgyal, 44: their second child, first daughter (the King has three children by his first wife, who died in 1957); in Calcutta...