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Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck
Ashi Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck (born 21 June 1959) is a Queen Mother of Bhutan and the third of the four sister-queens of the 4th Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck. She is the mother of the reigning 5th Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.
Ashi Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck (Dzongkha: ཚེ་རིང་གཡང་སྒྲོན་དབང་ཕྱུག, born 21 June 1959 in Nobgang, Punakha) is a Queen Mother of Bhutan. She is the third of the four sister-queens of the 4th Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck and the mother of the reigning 5th Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. Among the four queens, her position as the mother of the current king has placed her at the centre of public royal life since the 2006 abdication and the 2008 coronation of her son.[1]
She married the 4th King privately in 1979 alongside her three sisters, with the marriage formally solemnised at Punakha Dzong on 31 October 1988. The four sisters — Ashi Dorji Wangmo, Ashi Tshering Pem, Ashi Tshering Yangdon, and Ashi Sangay Choden — became the queens consort of the Wangchuck dynasty during the 4th King's reign. Following the abdication of the 4th King on 14 December 2006 in favour of her elder son, she has held the title of Gyalyum (Queen Mother).[1]
Family and Early Life
Tshering Yangdon was born in Nobgang in Punakha, the daughter of Yab Dasho Ugyen Dorji (1925–2019), who founded the Ugyen Academy boarding school, and Yum Thuiji Zam (born 1932), after whom a charity school in Thimphu District is named. She was educated at St. Joseph's Convent in Kalimpong and at St. Helen's School in Kurseong, both in West Bengal, India — schools that several members of the eastern Himalayan royal and aristocratic families have attended.[1]
She is the third of the Yangki sisters, daughters of Yab Ugyen Dorji and Yum Thuiji Zam. The four sisters are described in royal genealogies as having grown up between Bhutan and Indian boarding schools before all four became queens of the same king. The unusual marital arrangement — four sisters wedded to one monarch — has historical precedents in some pre-modern Himalayan royal houses, but it is the only known modern Bhutanese instance.[2]
Marriage and Children
The 1979 private marriage to the 4th King was followed nearly a decade later by the formal public ceremony on 31 October 1988 at Punakha Dzong, the historical winter seat of the Zhung Dratshang. Tshering Yangdon's three children with the 4th King are Crown Prince and later King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (born 21 February 1980), Princess Dechen Yangzom Wangchuck (born 1981), and Prince Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (born 1986).[1]
Her elder son's accession in 2006 and formal coronation on 6 November 2008 placed her in the position of Gyalyum to a reigning monarch — the most public role among the four queen mothers in the post-abdication period.[2]
Public Roles and Patronage
In March 2009, Tshering Yangdon founded the Bhutan Nuns Foundation (BNF), an organisation dedicated to the welfare and education of Buddhist nuns in Bhutan. The foundation has supported the renovation of nunneries, the introduction of educational programmes for nuns, and economic self-sufficiency initiatives within nunnery communities. It works closely with the Zhung Dratshang and registered nunnery institutions across the country.[3]
She is the Royal Patron of the Royal Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (RSPCA Bhutan), an organisation that works on animal welfare and stray dog management in Bhutanese cities. She also serves as patron of the Royal Bhutan Flower Exhibition, an annual horticultural showcase held in Paro and elsewhere.[1]
Among her notable cultural contributions is the sponsorship of the Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten in upper Punakha valley, a stupa built in honour of her elder son, the future king, and dedicated to the welfare of the kingdom. The chorten is reached by a footbridge across the Mo Chhu and a hill walk through paddy fields, and has become a destination for visitors and pilgrims to Punakha. She is described in royal biographies as a gardener and artist who paints and sketches in her private life.[4]
Recognition
In 2007, the International Women's Media Centre Foundation honoured the Queen Mother for her work supporting nuns and animal welfare in Bhutan.[5] She has accompanied the King and other members of the royal family on state and private visits abroad, including a January 2025 visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra during a private visit to India.[4]
See Also
References
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