Princes Tsedeun's gifted royal silver-end caps to a US family

On June 23^rd, 2020, I received an email from Ellis Gordon, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, who wished to share an interesting story for my blog {Proud to be a Sikkimese (sikhim.blogspot.com)} about the royal silver-end caps she had in her family possession gifted by late Princes Pema Tsedeun Yapshi Pheunkhang way back around 1969.

We shared a couple of emails as I wanted to know about her family and her family’s connection to the late princess. Ellis, the senior-level cyber-security engineer, said she has a pair of silver-end caps crafted for a hanging scroll that was made for her parents by the Sikkim Palace silver-smith under the order of Princess Pema Tsedeun Yapshi Pheunkhang during the late 60s.

Tsedeun, as she liked to be addressed, told Ellis was a frequent dinner guest at their house in Washington D.C., USA. Tseduen, would visit his father on Capitol Hill where she was introduced to members of the US government such as Sen. Edward Kennedy. 

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Upon asking how their parents came in touch with the Sikkim Royal family, Ellis's email read that she was in 9th grade when she first saw her with her family. The Princess was a regular visitor at dinners or dinner parties organized at their house in Washington, D.C., up until the early 1970s. Ellis’s father worked on Capitol Hill and was the Staff Economist for the Senate Small Business Committee. He had a wide network of contacts throughout the United States government.

Her mother was an accomplished silversmith. The Princess was very interested in her mother’s silver and gold work.  The royal princess wanted her parents to have an example of silver craft from the palace’s silversmith. Ellis wrote she could remember the princess going over to the hanging scroll in her parent’s dining room and measuring the roller dimensions for the palace silversmith to make the end caps. 

Ellis remembered the Princess as very communicative and highly intelligent. She was also very friendly and outgoing. The Princess could speak excellent English and mix with the West as well as the East. She added that she was a special ambassador for Sikkim.