Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Devi Shah (born 19 August 1928) is a member of the Nepalese Royal Family who was
Queen consort of
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
from 1955 to 1972 and
Queen dowager from 1972 to 2008 when the royal family were stripped of all titles and privileges. She is the second wife of
King Mahendra
Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज महेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाह देव; 11 June 1920 – 31 January 1972) was the King of Nepal from 13 March 1955 until ...
(1920–1972). Ratna belongs to the aristocratic
Rana family
Rana dynasty ( ne, राणा वंश, IAST=Rāṇā vaṃśa , ) is a Chhetri dynasty that imposed totalitarianism in the Kingdom of Nepal from 1846 until 1951, reducing the Shah monarch to a figurehead and making Prime Minister and other ...
and is the daughter of Field Marshal Hari Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana and his wife, Megha Kumari Rajya Lakshmi.
Life
![Queen Ratna and prince Bernhard 1967](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Queen_Ratna_and_prince_Bernhard_1967.jpg)
Ratna's older sister
Crown Princess Indra had married Crown Prince Mahendra in 1940 but died in 1950. Two years later, Ratna married Mahendra. Mahendra already had three sons and three daughters with Indra. Ratna became Queen consort after Mahendra's father
King Tribhuvan
Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज त्रिभुवन वीर विक्रम शाह देव ) (30 June 1906 – 13 March 1955) was King of Nepal from 11 December 1911 until his ...
died in 1955. In 1972, King Mahendra suffered a fatal
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
while hunting in
Chitwan National Park
, iucn_category = II
, location = Central Terai of Nepal
, established = 1973
, nearest_city = Bharatpur
, map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#India#South Asia , relief = 1
, label = Chitwan National Park
, label_position = top
, coordina ...
. His oldest son, Prince Birendra took over..
On the evening of June 1, 2001, when the
Nepalese royal massacre
The Nepalese royal massacre occurred on 1 June 2001 at the Narayanhiti Palace, the then-residence of the Nepalese monarchy. Nine members of the royal family, including King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, were killed in a mass shooting during a g ...
took place, Ratna was sitting with her sister-in-law
Princess Helen Shah in the anteroom, and thus survived. The two women heard the gunshots but did not take them seriously. A few minutes later,
Prince Paras came and told them that the
Crown Prince Dipendra
Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev ( ne, दीपेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाह, 27 June 1971 – 4 June 2001) was the King of Nepal for three days from 1 to 4 June 2001. For the duration of his three day reign he was ...
had shot everybody, including
the King. Dipendra was declared King while still in coma, she was said to have refused to see his unconscious body.
["In Nepal, the lights go out in former Queen’s home but Ratna still commands power among people"](_blank)
/ref>
The Nepalese monarchy was abolished in 2008 after the Constituent Assembly election. All members of the royal family had to evacuate the Narayanhity Palace
The Narayanhiti Palace Museum (Nepali: नारायणहिटी दरवार) is a public museum in Kathmandu, Nepal located east of the Kaiser Mahal and next to Thamel. The museum was created in 2008 from the complex of the former Nar ...
, with the exception of the Ratna. King Gyanendra
Gyanendra Shah ( ne, ज्ञानेन्द्र शाह, born 7 July 1947) is a former monarch who was the last King of Nepal, reigning from 2001 to 2008. As a child, he was briefly king from 1950 to 1951, when his grandfather, Tribhuva ...
made arrangements for his ailing step-mother and aunt to stay in Mahendra Manzil, a palace within the complex of Narayanhity Palace Museum. The Maoist government, however, confiscated numerous palaces that her husband Mahendra had built on his personal property as gifts to her.
On 24 August 2016, the Nepal Electricity Authority cut off the power supply to the former Queen’s residence, Mahendra Manzil, citing an outstanding electricity bill of Rs. 3.7 million accumulated over the preceding eight years (after the departure of other members of the royal family). According to news reports, Ratna asked her step-son and nephew, former king Gyanendra, not to take up the issue with the government as it would reduce their family dignity, which is what the Maoist government probably wanted. Instead, Ratna asked her step-son to come to her palace with fuel for the diesel generators used as back-up. This whole proceeding resulted in a huge public outcry. Protesters gathered at Ratna Park, a public park Mahendra had built in her honor, and burned an effigy of the new Energy Minister Janardan Sharma of the Maoist Party. Sharma was alleged by the media to have acted in vendetta as he had ignored bills of a hospital associated to him that owed more than RS.10 million. Due to public backlash, the government was forced to restore the power to the Mahendra Manzil Palace after 20 hours.
On 5 March 2019, Ratna was hospitalized in the Norvic Hospital due to a week long persistent cough and flu. An elite team of five doctors attended to her, and she was visited by her son Gyanendra and daughter in-law Queen Komal with homemade food. On 1 September 2022 she underwent cataract surgery. She underwent the surgery at Sudrishti Eye Clinic at Durbarmarg
Durbar Marg or Durbarmarg ( ne, दरबारमार्ग; informally known as ''King's way'') is a broad, long avenue in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu. It can be considered the heart of the city, akin to the Champs Elysées and the chief ave ...
.
Admiral
Many structures, institutions, locations and honors have been built and introduced in the respect of Queen Ratna. . Monuments erected in her name were renamed after the restoration of the parliament in 2063 BS and the end of the monarchy in 2065 BS. Even though the Ratna Park named after the queen was renamed as Shankhadhar Sakhwa Park, Ratna Park
Ratna Park is a park and surrounding district in central Kathmandu, Nepal. It is named after Queen Ratna, the wife of King Mahendra
Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज महेन्द् ...
is still popular among the people.
# Ratna Park
Ratna Park is a park and surrounding district in central Kathmandu, Nepal. It is named after Queen Ratna, the wife of King Mahendra
Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज महेन्द् ...
# Ratna Highway
Ratna Highway ( ne, रत्न राजमार्ग , also referred to as H12) is a highway in western Nepal that crosses the districts of Banke and Surkhet in a south to north direction.
The 113.08 km highway starts at Nepalgunj, wh ...
# Queen of Nepal: a Russian folk song
# Tsaritsa Nepala (Queen of Nepal): a Russian song about Nepal and the queen
# Ratna Statue in Ratna Park
Ratna Park is a park and surrounding district in central Kathmandu, Nepal. It is named after Queen Ratna, the wife of King Mahendra
Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज महेन्द् ...
# Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus
Ratna RajyaLaxmi Campus (), commonly known as RR Campus, is a constituent college of Tribhuvan University (TU). It is also the largest college for the Humanities and Social sciences studies. It provides under-graduate and master's degree level pro ...
Honours
National honours
**
Nepal Decoration of Honour (25 December 1966).
**
Order of the Benevolent Ruler, 1st class (1964).
**
Tribhuvan Order of the Footprint of Democracy, 1st class (2 May 1956).
**
Order of the Footprint of Nepal, 1st class (16 December 1962).
**
Order of the Rama Mantra Power, 1st class.
** Ati Suvikhyata Sewalankar enowned Service Medal
**
Order of the Benevolent Ruler, 1960
**
King Mahendra Investiture Medal (2 May 1956).
**
King Birendra Investiture Medal (24 February 1975).
**
Commemorative Silver Jubilee Medal of King Birendra (31 January 1997).
**
King Gyanendra Investiture Medal (4 June 2001).
Foreign honours
* :
**
Paulwonia Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown
The is a Japanese order, established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. Since the Order of the Rising Sun at that time was an Order for men, it was established as an Order for women. Originally the order had five classes, but on Apr ...
* :
**
Grand Cross Special Issue of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
* :
**
Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...
(25 April 1967).
* Laos:
**
Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol (1970).
*:
**
Nishan-e-Imtiaz (1970).
*:
**
Golden Heart Medal 1st Class (1971).
* Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
:
**
Commemorative Medal of the 2500th Anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire (14 October 1971).Iran. Host to the World
. Badraie. Retrieved on 27 April 2015.
Ancestry
See also
*
Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Campus
Ratna RajyaLaxmi Campus (), commonly known as RR Campus, is a constituent college of Tribhuvan University (TU). It is also the largest college for the Humanities and Social sciences studies. It provides under-graduate and master's degree level pro ...
References
External links
Royal Court of Nepal
Royal Titles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratna, Queen Mother Of Nepal
1928 births
Living people
Queen mothers
Nepalese queens consort
Grand Cordons of the Order of the Precious Crown
Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Recipients of Nishan-e-Imtiaz
20th-century Nepalese nobility
21st-century Nepalese nobility
Nepalese Hindus