Never have the Last Chogyal

                                    Crown prince Wangchuk Namgyal with Chogyal Palden Thendup Namgyal and Salyum

It was disheartening to see the question paper drafted in recently conducted examination for Sub Inspector by reputed SPSC Gangtok.  They had asked in the GK section question number 2.  Who was the last king of the Namgyal Dynasty? And the options for the answer included

1. Namgyal Phuntsok

2. Tensung Namgyal

3. Palden Thendup Namgyal.

4. Tenzing Namgyal

In which 99% (surely) have answered 3. Palden Thendup Namgyal as the last Chogyal. However, none of the above Chogyals was the correct answer because after the death of 12^th Chogyal Palden Thendup Namgyal in 1982, St Paul Darjeling and Harrow educated crown prince Wangchuk Tenzing Namgyal (born. April 1, 1953) the second son of  Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal and his first wife Gyalmu Sangay Diki, was coronated as the thirteenth miwang gyalpu or Chogyal of Sikkim in the august presence of Indian leaders, Sikkim government officials, former Chief Minster Mr. B. B. Gurrung, other Sikkimese leaders and Sikkimese people (Bhutia, Lepcha and Nepali) offering cha or dok with white Khada in their hands showing their gestures of acceptance and acknowledgement at the tsuklakhang (Royal Palace) on 19 February 1982 amidst the tune of  Denzong Sili Yangchag (National Anthem of Erstwhile Kingdom). He was crowned as Sikkim's 13th Chogyal after his elder brother crown prince Tenzing Namgyal was killed in a road accident. However, now this position does not confer any official authority and his responsibility includes only religious matters, but this does not give us the authority to discard him as a thirteenth Chogyal, because Chogyal may have lost the Kingdom established by his great forefather over 300 years ago but he has not lost his rights of clemency towards his inheritance. So when 13^th coronated Chogyal is very much alive and actively contributing spiritually for entire Sikkimese then how can we claim Palden Thendup Namgyal as our Last Chogyal?? Therefore, this wrong information that we are sharing especially among our youngsters must be rectified and in future such a baseless question should not be repeated in any examination that could confuse our aspiring interviewer.