Skip to main content

.......(Sikkim) This country is gone

By himalayanreview
I was just surfing an eBay auction website, and there I came across some material related to Hope Cook, the former queen of Sikkim on sale. There is an autographed photograph of former queen Hope Cook, her letter and an envelope in which it was sent to the USA. The three materials cost you 300 dollars.







The heading of the items says:

HOPE COOKE NAMGYAL AUTOGRAPH, Queen consort of SIKKIM

ONE-OF-A-KIND PIECE, VERY RARE, THIS COUNTRY IS GONE!


Just read the last line that says...."This country is gone". Sikkim is no longer an independent country now so it is more often referred as a dead country.

The further description says:

PHOTOGRAPH:
4-1/2" X 6" MEASUREMENTS, BLACK AND WHITE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AND SIGNED IN BLUE INK PEN, "HOPE NAMGYAL"

LETTERHEAD:
8-1/4" X 6" THE PALACE, GANGTOK, SIKKIM, DATED 15TH SEPTEMBER 1969 AND SIGNED SINCERELY HOPE NAMGYAL, "GYALMO OF SIKKIM

ENVELOPE:
8-1/4" X 6-3/8" WITH 13 STAMPS FROM INDIA AND 1 BIG STAMP COLORED PURPLE FROM INDIA (INK STAMPED FROM POST OFFICE DATED 17, SEPT. 1969
RETURN ADDRESS IS FROM GYALMO OF SIKKIM, GANGTOK, SIKKIM. VIA - EASTERN HIMALAYAS

HISTORY:

In 1959, Cooke, then a freshman at Sarah Lawrence College, met Palden Thondup Namgyal, Crown Prince of Sikkim, in the bar of the Windamere Hotel in Darjeeling, India. He was then a widower nearly twice her age.

Four years later, Cooke, an Episcopalian, married the Crown Prince in a Buddhist monastery on 20 March 1963, an act which caused her to be dropped from the Social Register. He became monarch of Sikkim nine months later but was deposed in 1975 and confined to his palace under house arrest. The couple had two children, Palden and Hope Leezum; she also has two stepsons and a stepdaughter from her husband's first marriage.

The Chogyal and his wife separated soon after he was overthrown, and she moved to Manhattan, where she raised her children. The royal couple divorced in 1980, and the Chogyal died of cancer in 1982 in New York City.

Today

Cooke is a tour guide and historian in New York City. She lives in Brooklyn Heights, New York. She wrote a memoir of her life in Sikkim, Time Change.

Labels:

Comments

  1. JyotsnaDecember 19, 2009 3:10 AM

    It is quite interesting to read abt the kings and queens who reined sikkim not so long ago!!!!

    I must congratulate you on your blog posts...it has definately managed to reach out many from different nook and corners of the world :)

    Regards Jyotsna

    ReplyDelete
  2. himalayanreviewDecember 23, 2009 12:40 PM

    Thanks Jyotsna.....please follow the blog hope it entertains and educate you.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 08, 2010 6:59 AM

    Even after decades, the King and Queen of Sikkim are still present and
    firmly connected with Sikkim. That's wonderful.
    Thanks for all the information and photos.



    7. Februar 2010

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History on Easter Sunday and Padari Ganga Prasad Pradhan

By himalayanreview
By Seira Tamang As noted by various scholars, Hinduism, the Nepali language, the monarchy and a rastriya itihas (a chronicle of progress in which the dark era of Rana rule is contrasted with the enlightened, progressive and modern period of Panchayat rule) formed the core of the Panchayat regime’s national culture. The formation and consolidation of this national culture have required the expunging of uncomfortable facts and stories that might raise ambiguities and questions. While the selection of what and who is and is not acknowledged to exist (or at least exist in historically important ways) in official Nepali history is complex, social scientists have begun to provide more comprehensive historical accounts of the past through oral histories and re-readings of historical documents. Such accounts reveal how ordinary people lived in the past, and offer ways to think through how ‘history’ is crafted, shaped and managed in order to reflect ‘the reality’ best suited to the status quo, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Shapi of Sikkim: Our legacy -iii

By himalayanreview
A Sikkimese with a Shapi The two previous articles I wrote in my earlier edition on Shapi were wonderful to read for people around, and appreciation had been received from different corners of the state. I am thankful and find pleasure in people finding joy in my findings and research work. It was a bit surprising that very few had heard about Shapi, our rare legacy.  Nevertheless, I am happy to be part of history for re-introducing Shapi to those sections of my readers who had never heard about this old and sacred mountain mammal, a native of Sikkim. I dedicate my writing on Shapi to Ongden Daju (RO), who has been very supportive of me ever since I first published its first part a few months back. It was he who wanted me to continue with the third part of Shapi since more findings were evolving after my two writings. I shall always remain grateful to JR Subba, Jt Director from the Forest Department, for providing me with a valuable census report of Shapi done by the Department...
2 comments
Read more

Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, with his mother Queen Mother Denzong Lhayumkusho and Prince Wangchuk of Sikkim

By himalayanreview
The late Jungkyang Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal, seated with his mother Queen Mother Denzong Lhayumkusho, daughter of Rakasha family of Tibet, and Prince Wangchuk whose late mother hails from the Samdrup Phodrang family of Tibet. Standing next to Denzong Queen Mother is the senior Rakasha Lhachamkusho, daughter of Raja Tsodrak Namgyal Taring of Sikkim, the eldest son of Chogyal Thutop Namgyal, who gave up the Sikkimese throne to his younger brother Sir Chogyal Tashi Namgyal in favour of staying in Tibet.  The Taring family of Tibet enabled into Tibetan high society by the great 13th Dalai Lama, is legitimately the unbroken elder line of the Royal Namgyal lineage of Sikkim, since Raja Tsodrak Namgyal was the Crown Prince of Sikkim, and his sons and grandsons today go by the Taring family name. Standing in the picture is also Princess Kukula, sister of the Chogyal married to the Phuenkhang family of Tibet.  Rakasha Tsetop, Rakasha Tseten, Yap Dr. Paljor, Soden Wangdi, Chimi ...
Post a Comment
Read more