Some Rare Pictures of Her Highness Hope Cooke Namgyal- The Gyalmo of Sikkim

Her Highness at a Center of Technical Education  

Working on Buddhist Manuscript

Possibly at Namgyal Institute of Tibetology

Her Highness getting ready in National Costume 

Her Highness with Prince Palden

Her Highness attending a function

Her Highness at a  Hand loom center

Probably searching Sikkim's destiny in the Map of Asia

Her Highness in her reading room

In the palace   

These pictures bear copyright of http://gxp1201.tibetcul.com (A website of People's Republic of China) I am greatly indebted to Tempa Transhimalayan Art, Taipei, Taiwan for sharing the link of these incredible pictures with me.

Where Are They Now? American Queen Hope Cooke

About Hope Cooke the only American Queen who married the King of Sikkim, history and biography of her then and now.
9-DAY WONDERS--ON THE 10TH DAY
Headline--1963: HOPE COOKE
At the Peak: It seemed to be a real-life fairy tale back in the early 1960s when Hope Cooke, a shy 22-year-old New York debutante, won the heart of the crown prince of Sikkim, a fabled Shangri-la principality astride the Himalaya.
They called Hope "the Grace Kelly of the East" in those days, and the public was bombarded with details of her exotic romance. We learned how the bride, an orphan who'd been raised by the former U.S. ambassador to Iran, had been wooed by her Prince Charming, a handsome widower whom she'd met in India in 1958.
After many consultations by the Buddhist astrologers, the wedding was set for March of 1963, and the public was treated to rhapsodic descriptions of the two-hour ceremony, replete with throbbing Tibetan horns, bejeweled altars, clanging cymbals, and classical chants by imperial lamas. Then the couple was supposed to live happily ever after in a palace nestled in the shadows of Mt. Kanchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain (which the groom happened to own).
Alas, however, the fairy tale soon crumbled for the only American woman ever to become a queen. Political upheavals racked the mountain kingdom on the Tibet-India border in the early 1970s, and a feud developed between the king and wealthy landowners who sought to reduce his power. The crisis deepened, and Hope's foreign background became a major issue.
And Today: Hope Cooke is back in New York, having been forced to flee Sikkim in 1973, when mobs roamed the streets and, in her words, "the harmony of the beautifully woven society was slashed to pieces."
Fourteen years after she became a queen, the soft-spoken, raven-haired mother of two lives quietly in a modest apartment and appears only occasionally at society functions. Her husband, stripped of his powers, remains under house arrest in his palace.
"I often recall the beauty of the relationship we once shared and the land we lived in," she says. "But in the end, he had to stay and I had to go."

Sikkim: Hope-La in Gangtok

Sikkim: Hope-la in Gangtok
Friday, Apr. 16, 1965
source:- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,841834,00.html
There is usually little zest to life in Sikkim, India's tiny protectorate in the Himalayas. For day-to-day kicks, some citizens can only contemplate the crags of majestic Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain, marvel at the gay flowers that grow in profusion beneath its peaks, or laugh gaily at the frolicking wild pandas of the region. But last week excitement galore gripped the populace as chic photographers, starchy diplomats and perfumed post-debs from abroad suddenly inundated the charming little capital of Gangtok.
The occasion was the long-postponed coronation of His Highness Chogyal (King) Palden Thondup Namgyal, Sikkim's own maharajah. Squatting on 13 gold cushions in elaborate robes and felt boots embroidered with thunderbolts, he gravely accepted a fur-brimmed crown handed him by red-robed lamas, popped it on his head and thus became King—and honorary major general in the Indian army.
Lamas & Top Hats. At his side one of the world's two American-born reigning princesses* became Sikkim's Queen. Ex-New Yorker Hope Cooke (Sarah Lawrence '63) became Her Highness Hope Namgyal, Gyalmo (Queen) of Sikkim. She wore a pearl chaplet, a red bhakku over a white silk gown, and high-heeled shoes for the occasion. Her vast hazel eyes downcast, she whispered "Thank you, thank you," as a parade of lamas and top-hatted guests pressed forward to present the royal couple with cards marked with mystic symbols and heaps of white scarves for good luck.
With that, corks popped from champagne bottles, and turbaned bandsmen struck up tunes from My Fair Lady as lissome American girls, friends of the Queen who had flown in for the occasion, joined young Sikkimese aristocrats in dancing. Even the King and Queen did the twist and a quartet of Sikkimese Beatles shrilled their Himalayan version of I Want to Hold Your Hand.
Yak Butter for All. Sikkim rejoiced at having a crowned king; it would have had one sooner but for court astrologers, who had insisted on postponing the coronation for 16 months after the death of Thondup's father, Maharajah Sir Tashi Namgyal. King Thondup, a progressive monarch fond of blue Mercedes, has resolved to make his land "a paradise on earth" with high literacy and plenty of yak butter for all. "Hope-la," as Thondup affectionately calls the wife he married in 1963, is obviously happy in her role as Queen, wife and mother, keeps busy developing Sikkim's handicrafts and studying Buddhism, though she has not formally adopted the faith. The Sikkimese wistfully pine for more autonomy under India, which handles their defense and foreign affairs and grants entry visas. But it is India's army that has thus far kept Peking from making another Tibet out of Sikkim. Red China's President Liu Shao-chi sent congratulations to the newly crowned King.