Nepal's ex-queen mum to stay in palace, crown goes missing
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
While Nepal's dethroned king Gyanendra has just 72 hours to vacate the royal palace, former queen mother Ratna Shah will stay on. She has wrested permission from the government despite growing public anger against the privileges of the erstwhile royal family, according to Internet.
Gyanendra's 80-year-old stepmother, once the most powerful woman in the kingdom and a resident of the Narayanhity royal palace through the reign of four kings in succession, will not have to quit her quarters inside the sprawling palace, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's government said.
Ratna Shah, the iron-fisted second wife who late king Mahendra married despite the disapproval of his father, and who is reported to have been a staunch supporter of Gyanendra's coup in 2005, will continue to stay in Mahendra Manzil, the mansion inside the palace built by her husband.
Not just the former queen mother, but a former royal mistress will also be allowed to stay in the palace, the council of ministers decided Sunday.
Sarala Tamang, in her 90s, who was the concubine of Gyanendra's grandfather Tribhuvan, will also be allowed to continue living in the separate house inside the palace.
Meanwhile, the fabled crown of the Shah kings, studded with priceless gems and easily identifiable by the long bird of paradise feather rising from the apex, is missing, as well as the royal sceptre.
The crown was last worn in public by Gyanendra, the last king of Nepal, on June 4, 2001 when he ascended the throne a second time following the assassination of his brother Birendra.
Though a high-level committee formed by the government to make an inventory of the priceless heirlooms in the secretive palace has been repeatedly asking about the two erstwhile symbols of power, but no one had complied till Sunday.
Gyanendra's 80-year-old stepmother, once the most powerful woman in the kingdom and a resident of the Narayanhity royal palace through the reign of four kings in succession, will not have to quit her quarters inside the sprawling palace, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's government said.
Ratna Shah, the iron-fisted second wife who late king Mahendra married despite the disapproval of his father, and who is reported to have been a staunch supporter of Gyanendra's coup in 2005, will continue to stay in Mahendra Manzil, the mansion inside the palace built by her husband.
Not just the former queen mother, but a former royal mistress will also be allowed to stay in the palace, the council of ministers decided Sunday.
Sarala Tamang, in her 90s, who was the concubine of Gyanendra's grandfather Tribhuvan, will also be allowed to continue living in the separate house inside the palace.
Meanwhile, the fabled crown of the Shah kings, studded with priceless gems and easily identifiable by the long bird of paradise feather rising from the apex, is missing, as well as the royal sceptre.
The crown was last worn in public by Gyanendra, the last king of Nepal, on June 4, 2001 when he ascended the throne a second time following the assassination of his brother Birendra.
Though a high-level committee formed by the government to make an inventory of the priceless heirlooms in the secretive palace has been repeatedly asking about the two erstwhile symbols of power, but no one had complied till Sunday.