Palden Thondup NamgyalOBE (Sikkimese: དཔལ་ལྡན་དོན་དྲུཔ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ; Wylie: dpal-ldan don-grub rnam-rgyal; 23 May 1923 – 29 January 1982) was the 12th and last Chogyal (king) of the Kingdom of Sikkim.
Biography
Palden thondup Namgyal was born on 23 May 1923 at the Royal Palace, Park Ridge, Gangtok.[1]
At six, he became a student at St. Joseph's Convent in Kalimpong,[2] but had to terminate his studies due to attacks of malaria.[3][4] From age eight to eleven he studied under his uncle, Rimpoche Lhatsun, in order to be ordained a Buddhist monk; he was subsequently recognised as the reincarnated leader of both Phodong and Rumtekmonasteries.[5] He later continued his studies at St. Joseph's College in Darjeeling and finally graduated from Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, in 1941.[6] His plans to study science at Cambridge were dashed when his elder brother, the crown prince, a member of the Indian Air Force was killed in a plane crash in 1941.[7] He underwent training for Indian Civil Service at Dehradun I.C.S. Camp.[8]
Namgyal served as adviser for internal affairs for his father, Sir Tashi Namgyal, the 11th Chogyal, and led the negotiating team which established Sikkim's relationship to India after independence in 1949.[9] He married Samyo Kushoe Sangideki in 1950, a daughter of an important Tibetan family of Lhasa,[10] and together they had two sons and a daughter. Samyo Kushoe Sangideki died in 1957.[11]
King and Queen of Sikkim, 1966
In 1963, Namgyal married Hope Cooke, a 22-year-old American socialite from New York City;[12] she was a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers in the state of New York.[13][14] The marriage brought worldwide media attention to Sikkim. The couple, who had two children, divorced in 1980.[15]
Shortly after Namgyal's marriage, his father died and he was crowned the new Chogyal on an astrologically favourable date in 1965.[16] In 1975[further explanation needed], the Prime Minister of Sikkim appealed to the Indian Parliament for Sikkim to become a state of India.
In April of that year, the Indian Army took over the city of Gangtok and disarmed the Chogyal's palace guards. A referendum on abolishing the monarchy was held in the Kingdom of Sikkim on 14 April 1975 and the people of Sikkim voted 59,637 to 1,496 for Indian statehood and the ouster of their Chogyal, or ruler, Palden Thondup Namgyal, who was under Indian army guard in his palace in Gangtok.[17]
In November 1976, Namgyal allegedly attempted suicide by consuming barbiturates and was airlifted to IPGMER and SSKM Hospital.[18] He was successfully treated by Professor Dr. Amal Kumar Bose, Head of the Department of Anesthesia and Respiratory Care Unit at the SSKM hospital.[19]
Namgyal died of cancer at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, United States on 29 January 1982. He was 58 years old at the time of his death.[20][21] Upon his death, 31 members of the State Legislative Assembly offered khadas to the Chogyal as a mark of respect.
Other interests
King and Queen of Sikkim and their daughter watch birthday celebrations, Gangtok, Sikkim in May 1971
Namgyal was an amateur radio operator, call-sign AC3PT, and was a highly sought after contact on the airwaves.[22][23][24][25] The international callbook listed his address as: P.T. Namgyal, The Palace, Gangtok, Sikkim.[26]
Namgyal shaped a "model Asian state" where the literacy rate and per capita income were twice as high as neighbours Nepal, Bhutan and India.[28]
His first son, the former crown prince Tenzing Kunzang Jigme Namgyal, died in 1978 in a car accident.[29] His second son from his first marriage, Tobgyal Wangchuk Tenzing Namgyal, was named the 13th Chogyal, but the position no longer confers any official authority.
His son from his second marriage, Palden Gyurmed Namgyal, moved to New York aged nine with his mother and sister, being educated at Dalton School. He would go on to work for JPMorgan Chase, becoming a managing director. He was dismissed in 2003 following an incident of sexual harassment against a colleague.[30]
Titles
1923–1941: Prince Palden Thondup Namgyal.
1941–1947: Maharajkumar Sri Panch Palden Thondup Namgyal.
1947–1953: Maharajkumar Sri Panch Palden Thondup Namgyal, OBE.
1953–1963: Lieutenant-Colonel Maharajkumar Sri Panch Palden Thondup Namgyal, OBE.[31][32]
^"Letter from Mother Clare, Superioress of St. Joseph's Convent (Kalimpong) to the Private Secretary regarding the health of Crown Prince Kunzang Paljor Namgyal, Palden Thondup Namgyal and Princess Pema Tsedeun Namgyal, 26 Nov 1931". Correspondence and reports regarding the education of the Princes and Princesses in Kalimpong, British Library, EAP 880/1/5/30. Gangtok. 1931. pp. 348–349. Retrieved 30 September 2022. I heard from out doctor that they had terrible cases of malignant malaria from Rangpo in the hospital the whole year round{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Rustomji, Nari K. (1971). "First Contacts with Sikkim and Bhutan". Enchanted Frontiers: Sikkim, Bhutan and India's North-Eastern Frontiers. Bombay: Oxford University Press. pp. 19–21. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
^"Television interview of Palden Thondup Namgyal and Hope Cooke Namgyal (Gyalmo) in WNEW-TV's "Under Discussion"". The King and Queen of Sikkim, an interview by Joshep Newman, British Library, EAP 880/1/1/301. Gangtok. 1964. p. 20. Retrieved 1 October 2022. Princess Hope, would you be very much surprised to hear that one of your professors said, before you graduated from Sarah Lawrence, that you had become a very distinguished authority on Buddhism.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^"Palden Thondup Namgyal, Deposed Sikkim King, Dies". New York Times. 30 January 1982. Retrieved 17 September 2014. The deposed King of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal, who had been undergoing treatment for cancer in New York, died last night from complications following an operation at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He was 58 years old. A family spokesman said his body was to be flown home to Sikkim for the funeral. ...
^Essery, E. P. (June 1975). "Communication and DX News"(PDF). The Short Wave Magazine. 33 (4): 200. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
^Geerken, Horst H. (5 May 2015). "Our Second House and Ham Radio Experiences". Der Ruf des Geckos: 18 erlebnisreiche Jahre in Indonesien [A Gecko for Luck: 18 Years in Indonesia]. Translated by McCann, Bill. A BukitCinta Book. pp. 288–295. ISBN9783839152485. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
^Dutta-Ray, Sunanda K. (1984). "Thumb Impression". Smash and Grab: The Annexation of Sikkim. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. p. 298. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
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