Description: LOT-P45. For your consideration is an exceedingly rare and historically important c.1971 manuscript hand-signed Card by HM King Palden Thondup Namgyal and HM Queen Hope Cooke of Sakkim. Guaranteed original and authentic. Condition is original. Signature is manuscript in ink. Card measures approximately 13.0" x 4.0" fully open. Palden Thondup Namgyal (23 May 1923 29 January 1982) was the 12th and last Chogyal (king) of the Kingdom of Sikkim. 23 May 1923 29 January 1982) was the 12th and last Chogyal (king) of the Kingdom of Sikkim. Namgyal was born on 23 May 1923 at the Royal Palace, Park Ridge, Gangtok. At six, he became a student at St. Joseph's Convent in Kalimpong, but had to terminate his studies due to attacks of malaria. 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 Rumtek monasteries. He later continued his studies at St. Joseph's College in Darjeeling and finally graduated from Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, in 1941. 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. 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. He married Samyo Kushoe Sangideki in 1950, a daughter of an important Tibetan family of Lhasa, and together they had two sons and a daughter. Samyo Kushoe Sangideki died in 1957. Hope Cooke (born June 24, 1940) is an American who was the "Gyalmo", Wylie: rgyal mo) (Queen Consort) of the 12th Chogyal (King) of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal. Their wedding took place in March 1963. She was termed Her Highness The Crown Princess of Sikkim and became the Gyalmo of Sikkim at Palden Thondup Namgyal's coronation in 1965. Palden Thondup Namgyal was to be the last king of Sikkim as a protectorate state under India. By 1973, both the country and their marriage were crumbling; soon Sikkim was merged into India. Five months after the takeover of Sikkim had begun, Cooke returned to the United States with her two children and stepdaughter to enroll them in schools in New York City. Cooke and her husband divorced in 1980; Namgyal died of cancer in 1982. Cooke wrote an autobiography, Time Change (Simon & Schuster 1981) and began a career as a lecturer, book critic, and magazine contributor, later becoming an urban historian. In her new life as a student of New York City, Cooke published Seeing New York (Temple University Press 1995); worked as a newspaper columnist (Daily News); and taught at Yale University, Sarah Lawrence College, and Birch Wathen, a New York City private school.
Price: 401.46 USD
Location: Sparrows Point, Maryland
End Time: 2024-11-25T21:35:56.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
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Item Specifics
Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Country: Sikkim
Country/Region of Manufacture: India
Features: Antique, Illustrated, Official Release
Royal: King Namgyal of Sikkim
Royalty: India Royalty
Theme: Royalty
To Commemorate: Coronation
Type: Card
Vintage: Yes
Year: 1971
Modified Item: Yes
Modification Description: Hand-signed by King & Queen of SIkkim