Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Jetsun Pema

Sanawar, May 22: A school in Himachal Pradesh can now say it had prepared a young woman to be a future queen.

Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck announced on Friday that he would marry Jetsun Pema, a former student of Lawrence School, Sanawar.

It means another feather in the cap for the 164-year-old institution near Kasauli where actor Sanjay Dutt and Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah once studied.

Pema’s younger sister Serchen Doma, a 9th standard student of the same school, confirmed that the would-be queen was indeed her sister.

“We came to know about this marriage yesterday when I personally asked Serchen Doma about her sister’s marriage. She said Jetsun Pema will be the future queen of Bhutan and the marriage will be solemnised in October,” said Deepak Bahuguna, an English teacher in the school who has taught both the sisters.

If old “Sanawarians” were excited at the news, they were surprised that the simple looking, 5-foot-10-inch tall girl, who would turn 21 next month, would soon be referred to as Her Majesty, the Queen. A school official, too, said he had been taken aback by the news. “It has come as a surprise for us,” said Raj Chauhan.

English teacher Bahuguna said both sisters were good learners and very intelligent, cultured and well-behaved. “Jetsun Pema was a very good student, conscious and punctual. She is also a good basketball and table tennis player. She has a good sense of humour and is very witty.”

Pema was born in Thimphu on June 4, 1990. As a child she studied in St Joseph’s Convent, Kalimpong. An English teacher at the school, where Pema enrolled as a Class IV student in 1999, said she remembered her as a “quiet” girl.

“I taught her English and remember her as a quiet and polite girl. I remember her as her mother, Sonam Chuki, and I were classmates here and passed our ICSE from St Joseph’s in 1980,” Miss Eugenie recalled.

Pema studied in Class V in the same school before leaving in 2000. She also studied in Changangkha Lower Secondary School and Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School in Thimphu, Bhutan. She joined Lawrence School, Sanawar, in 2006 and completed her Plus-2 in 2008 before graduating from Regents College, London.

Pema, who has two brothers and two sisters, comes from the influential Bumthang Pangtey family. Her father’s name is Dhondup Gyaltshen.

In his May 20 announcement, Khesar, 31, who completed his studies at Oxford, described Pema as “warm and kind”.

“As my queen, I have found such a person and her name is Jetsun Pema. While she is young, she is warm and kind in heart and character. These qualities together with the wisdom that will come with age and experience will make her a great servant to the nation,” the Bhutan king was quoted as saying in the Bhutanese media.

The announcement of the royal wedding has sent people into a tizzy across the mountainous country. While many are sharing the news on Twitter, Facebook and other networking sites, offices, streets, hotels and restaurants are buzzing with excitement.

Lawrence School official Chauhan said Pema “never contacted the authorities” after passing out in 2008. Maybe she will now — with a wedding invite.