Ketaki Chester
Ketaki Chester (born January 14, 1948) is a member of the former Nepalese royal family. She is the second daughter of the late Prince Basundhara of Nepal, who was a son of King Tribhuvan.
Chester is an eyewitness of the Nepalese royal massacre that took place in 2001; she herself was severely wounded in the massacre but survived.
Life
Ketaki was born Princess Ketaki of Nepal (Sri Sri Sri Sri Sri Shahjadi Ketaki Rajya Laxmi Devi), the second daughter of Prince Basundhara and Princess Helen Shah. Like many other members of the royal family, Ketaki was educated in Darjeeling.
She married Kumud Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana in 1968. In the 1970s, they divorced.[1]
The princess then married Alan Roy Chester, a British airline pilot. On her second marriage, Ketaki renounced the titles of Princess and Rajya Laxmi Devi, and became known as Ketaki Chester. They have two children, Roy Chester and Selina Chester.
On June 1, 2001, when the palace massacre took place, Ketaki was present in the palace with her sister Princess Jayanti and her mother, Princess Helen. She was standing at the doorway of the billiard room with Princess Jayanti. They saw the Crown Prince Dipendra entering the billiard room in army fatigue and carrying guns. The sisters wondered why the Crown Prince was carrying guns. Then they saw King Birendra being shot, and later, when Dhirendra—the king's younger brother—tried to stop the Crown Prince Dipendra, he (Dhirendra) was shot too, and then Dipendra started shooting everyone and spraying the whole room with bullets. The massacre resulted in the deaths of ten members of the royal family. Ketaki's elder sister, Princess Jayanti, died in the massacre.[2] Princess Helen was in the anteroom with the Queen Mother Ratna and thus survived.[3] Ketaki herself was severely wounded; her right shoulder was shattered, but she survived. Her right arm never healed completely.[4] She has vivid memories of the massacre and, since then, she has been interviewed about the happenings of the evening.
Honors
- Member of Order of the Gurkha Right Hand 1st class
References
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