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| Palden Thondup Namgyal | |
|---|---|
| The 12thChogyal | |
 Palden Thondup Namgyal in 1971 | |
| Chogyal of Sikkim | |
| Reign | 2 December 1963 – 10 April 1975 |
| Coronation | 4 April 1965 |
| Predecessor | Tashi Namgyal |
| Successor | Monarchy abolished |
| Born | (1923-05-23)23 May 1923 Gangtok,Kingdom of Sikkim |
| Died | 29 January 1982(1982-01-29) (aged 58) New York City, U.S. |
| Spouse | Samyo Kushoe Sangideki (1950–1957) Hope Cooke (1963–1980) |
| Issue | Prince Tenzing Kunzang Jigme Namgyal Prince Tobgyal Wangchuk Tenzing Namgyal Princess Yangchen Dolma Namgyal Prince Palden Gyurmed Namgyal Princess Hope Leezum Namgyal Tobden |
| House | Namgyal |
| Father | Tashi Namgyal |
| Mother | Kunzang Dechen |
| Religion | Buddhism |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Sikkim |
| Service years | 1963 - 1975 |
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 lastChogyal (king) of theKingdom of Sikkim.
Palden thondup Namgyal was born on 23 May 1923 at the Royal Palace, Park Ridge,Gangtok.[1]
At six, he became a student atSt. Joseph's Convent inKalimpong,[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 beordained aBuddhist monk; he was subsequently recognised as the reincarnated leader of bothPhodong andRumtekmonasteries.[5] He later continued his studies atSt. Joseph's College inDarjeeling and finally graduated fromBishop Cotton School inShimla, in 1941.[6] His plans to study science at Cambridge were dashed when his elder brother, the crown prince, a member of theIndian Air Force was killed in a plane crash in 1941.[7] He underwent training forIndian 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 toIndia after independence in 1949.[9] He married Samyo Kushoe Sangideki in 1950, a daughter of an importantTibetan family of Lhasa,[10] and together they had two sons and a daughter. Samyo Kushoe Sangideki died in 1957.[11]
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In 1963, Namgyal marriedHope Cooke, a 22-year-old American socialite from New York City;[12] she was a graduate ofSarah Lawrence College inYonkers 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 theIndian Parliament for Sikkim to become a state of India.
In April of that year, theIndian Army took over the city ofGangtok 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 toIPGMER 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 theMemorial 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 offeredkhadas to the Chogyal as a mark of respect.
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Namgyal was anamateur 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]
He financed the documentarySikkim (1971) by Indian filmmakerSatyajit Ray.[27]
Namgyal shaped a "model Asian state" where the literacy rate and per capita income were twice as high as neighboursNepal,Bhutan andIndia.[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 atDalton School. He would go on to work forJPMorgan Chase, becoming a managing director. He was dismissed in 2003 following an incident of sexual harassment against a colleague.[30]
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Kingdom of Sikkim: Order of the Precious Jewel of the Heart of Sikkim (Founder),September 1972
India:
Padma Vibhushan,22 February 1954[31][32]
United KingdomOrder of the British Empire (OBE),1 January 1947Indian Independence Medal,1948
FranceOrder of the Black Star (Commandeur),1956
Nepal King Mahendra Investiture Medal,2 May 1956 King Birendra Investiture Medal,24 February 1975
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)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)He is the abbot of the Phodang monastery and has received religious teaching from Lhatsun Rimpoche.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)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){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)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. ...
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Sikkim documentary -inpublisher:icon.
Palden Thondup Namgyal Born: 23 May 1923 Died: 29 January 1982 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chogyal of Sikkim 2 December 1963 – 10 April 1975 | Title abolished Sikkim accession to India |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| New title | — TITULAR — Chogyal of Sikkim 10 April 1975 – 29 January 1982 Reason for succession failure: Sikkim accession to India | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
