by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2014
Jetsun Pema, Queen of Bhutan; Credit – crielaa.blogspot.com
On October 13, 2011, 21-year-old Jetsun Pema became the youngest queen in the world when she married King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan. Bhutan is a small, land-locked country in south Asia. The House of Wangchuck has ruled Bhutan since 1907. In 2008, Bhutan made the transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.
Jetsun Pema was born on June 4, 1990, at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital, the main hospital in Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu. Her parents are Dhondup Gyaltshen, a pilot with Drukair – Royal Bhutan Airlines, the national airline of the Kingdom of Bhutan, and Sonam Chuki. Both parents have connections to the Royal Family of Bhutan. Jetsun Pema’s father is the half-brother of a former queen consort and her mother is the goddaughter of a Bhutanese prince. Besides Jetsun Pema, the second eldest, her parents have two sons and two more daughters.
Jetsun Pema received her early education at schools in her birthplace, Thimphu. She started her secondary education in Thimphu but then attended the Lawrence School, a boarding school in Sanawar, India. After completing her education at the Lawrence School, Jetsun Pema attended Regent’s College in London, England where she majored in International Relations and minored in Psychology and Art History. She is fluent in Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan, English, and Hindi. Jetsun Pema was the captain of her high school basketball team and still enjoys the sport.
Punakha Dzong where the Buddhist wedding ceremony took place; Photo Credit – Wikipedia
Jetsun Pema first met her husband when she was seven and he was seventeen. On October 13, 2011, they were married in a traditional Buddhist ceremony at the Punakha Dzong (the Palace of Great Happiness) in Punakha, Bhutan. The wedding ceremony was followed by a formal proclamation naming the bride as Queen of Bhutan.
King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema at their wedding; Credit – www.telegraph.co.uk
The bride wore a kira, the Bhutanese national dress for women, of red, yellow, green, and white, and a light yellow toego, a long-sleeved, short jacket-like garment over the kira. The groom wore a rose-patterned gho, the Bhutanese national dress for men. This was the same gho that the king’s father and grandfather wore at their weddings.
Bhutan Royal Family, June 2020; Credit – His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck Facebook Page
The couple has two sons and one daughter
- Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, Dragon Prince of Bhutan (born on February 5, 2016)
- Prince Jigme Ugyen Wangchuck (born March 19. 2020)
- Princess Sonam Yangden Wangchuck (born September 9, 2023)
Queen Jetsun Pema and her husband meeting the then Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall at Clarence House on November 23, 2011 in London, England
Queen Jestun Pema has accompanied her husband on foreign official trips and she accompanies him on official visits throughout Bhutan. She is the patron of the Ability Bhutan Society, the Royal Society for Protection of Nature, Jigten Wangchuk Tshogpa, and the United Nations Environment Programme Ozone Ambassador.
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