Queen Jetsun Pema

Jetsun Pema (Dzongkha: རྗེ་བཙུན་པདྨ་; Wylie: rje btsun padma; born 4 June 1990) is the Queen (Druk Gyaltsuen, which literally means “Dragon Queen”) of Bhutan, as the wife of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

Jetsun Pema
Dragon Queen of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Dragon Queen of Bhutan (cropped).jpg
2011 — Present
13 October 2011
Born (1990-06-04) June 4, 1990 (age 34)
SpouseJigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (m. 2011)
IssuePrince Jigme Namgyal Wangchuck

Prince Jigme Ugyen Wangchuck

Princess Sonam Yangden Wangchuck
Full name
Jetsun Pema Wangchuck
HouseWangchuck
FatherDondrup Gyaltshen
ReligionBuddhism

Early life

Jetsun Pema was born at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital in Thimphu on 4 June 1990. Her father, Dhondup Gyaltshen, is the grandson of two Trashigang Dzongpons, Thinley Topgay and Ugyen Tshering (governors of Trashigang). Her mother, Aum Sonam Choki, comes from the family of Bumthang Pangtey, one of Bhutan's oldest noble families. Sonam Choki's father was a half-brother of two queens consort of Bhutan, Phuntsho Choden (great-grandmother of the present king) and her sister Pema Dechen.

Her ancestor is also the 48th Druk Desi and 10th Penlop of Trongsa Jigme Namgyal (father of King Ugyen Wangchuck and of her great-great-grandmother, Ashi Yeshay Choden). The King and Queen of Bhutan are distant cousins.

Jetsun Pema is the second eldest of five children. Her siblings are two brothers, Thinlay Norbu and Jigme Namgyel, and two sisters, Serchen Doma and Yeatso Lhamo (the eldest, who is the wife of the king's brother, Prince Gyaltshab Jigme Dorji Wangchuck).

Jetsun Pema's early education took place in Thimphu at the Little Dragon School, the Sunshine School (1995–96) and finally the Changangkha Lower Secondary School (1997–98). She then received a convent education at St. Joseph's Convent in Kalimpong, West Bengal, India, in 1999–2000. She pursued her secondary education at the Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School in Thimphu from 2001 to 2005 and moved to The Lawrence School, Sanawar, in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India, in April 2006. She joined Lawrence as a Class-XI student and studied English, history, geography, economics and painting. She completed her Higher Secondary education on 31 March 2008. She then began her tertiary education at Regent's College in London, where she graduated with a degree in international relations, with psychology and art history as minor subjects.

Title

As of 13 October 2011, the queen's title was Her Majesty Dragon Queen of the Kingdom of Bhutan.


Queen Jetsun Pema Media