A Queen Revisited

Trim and lithe, her rich brown hair flowing over her shoulders, America's only working queen strides the hilly lanes of her capital, Gangtok. As she passes by, the Sikkimese smile, nod and stop to chat, all formality forgotten. Hope Cooke, the shy Sarah Lawrence student married five years to the King of Sikkim, finds herself very much at home in the tiny Himalayan country. "The mountains," she says, "give me such a secure feeling. I don't feel vulnerable here."

Five years ago, during the elaborate ceremonies marking her marriage to Palden Thondup Namgyal, court musicians sang that "a flower of the West blossoms among us." Today it is clear that at 28 the whispery-voiced Gyalmo (Queen) has not only blossomed but put down sturdy roots as well. Her two children, Prince Palden, 4, and Princess Hope Leezum, 18 months, are thriving, and the Gyalmo almost singlehanded has succeeded in reviving Sikkim's long-dormant cottage industry. Sikkim now exports to the world, and two chic Manhattan stores carry deep-pile rugs and gold and silver jewelry painstakingly made by native craftsmen.

Royal Household. Hope's days are full. She rises at about 8 a.m., breakfasts on tea and fruit, and browses through the foreign newspapers and magazines to which the palace subscribes. At 10 a.m., her secretary enters, and the four hours until lunch are spent writing letters, devising menus and supervising the palace's 15 servants, who work in two shifts. She also keeps an eye on the family budget: the King's annual income is $42,000, and fixed expenses of $27,000 leave the royal household only a $15,000 margin. After lunch, palace chores and social work keep her busy until about 4 p.m., when she breaks away for her daily stroll through Gangtok or perhaps a set of tennis. Evenings are usually filled with official functions, or private parties, and the royal family has a wide circle of Sikkimese friends. She likes a Scotch and soda before dinner--or "even after dinner," she confides--but managed to give up smoking two years ago. Her husband, the Chogyal (King), does not smoke either--he prefers to chew betel nut. Droll, fluent in English and forward-looking, he appears years younger than his age (45).

In the five years since he took control of the country, the King has concentrated on electrification and education, carrying forward many of his father's ideas. Under their leadership, the literacy rate has risen from 25% to 40%, and the number of Sikkimese children in school has quadrupled in the past decade. Government revenues have doubled, road mileage has tripled, and average per-capita income has risen by a third, to $100 a year. This fall, however, monsoon rains set off heavy floods and landslides, causing $28 million in damage--14 times the kingdom's annual budget.

Palden and Hope spent a month surveying the damage, trekking across the mountainous landscape by Jeep and horseback. "It was an arduous month," she remembers, "but we had to see how bad it was and what we could do." Palden's policy is to visit each village in the kingdom at least once every three years, and Hope goes with him whenever possible, even visiting areas close to hostile Communist China.

No Great Splendor. At home, she dresses informally in the kho, the traditional Sikkimese costume, which is an ankle-length jumper that wraps around the waist and is worn over a blouse of contrasting color--cotton or wool for the daytime and silk in the evening. She uses cosmetics only occasionally and does her own hair--though she admits that she is encouraging a romance between a Sikkimese youth and a Calcutta hairdresser in the hope of importing the kingdom's first coiffeuse. She describes her home as "a poorish palace but a palace." It is a 64-year-old, two-story white stucco building with five bedrooms and a tin roof. In Gangtok, the family gets around in a white Mercedes convertible. On foreign trips, however, they make a point of flying economy class and often stay with friends. "It's no great Oriental splendor we live in," Hope observes.

The Gyalmo and Chogyal travel in the West for about two months a year, which helps to overcome any surge of homesickness, but Hope admits that she sometimes misses "cheese, the Sunday New York Times and the sea." Still, those are hardly important. Hope says: "My happiest times are right here in Sikkim. Being a queen is nice because it gives you a whole fabric, a structure, and because there is so much we need to do. I feel accepted, very comfortable, very inspired and completely happy."

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