Married to the third King of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (marries 5 Oct 1951). Daughter of Sonam Topgay Dorji & Mayum Choying Wangmo.
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1972 the Third King's health had seriously deteriorated. On 22 April 1972 Kesang Choden was formally appointed regent to act on his behalf during his illness — one of the very few women in Bhutanese history to hold such a position.
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From 1972 her title shifted from Queen Consort to Queen Mother, in Dzongkha Gyalyum (རྒྱལ་ཡུམ). She did not remarry. During the Fourth King's long reign (1972–2006) she remained a senior figure at court but kept a deliberately low public profile compared with her four daughters-in-law — four sisters from the Yangtse-based Ngalop family who married her son in a single ceremony in 1988. Observers describe her role in this period as that of a private matriarch rather than a public figurehead, focused on religious practice, family, and the education of her grandchildren.
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When her son Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicated in December 2006 in favour of his eldest son, Kesang Choden's formal title became Gyalyum Chenmo — "Great Royal Grandmother" — though in common Bhutanese usage she is simply the Royal Grandmother.
sister of the Queen Grandmother and grand-aunt to the current King (as of September 2026), was born in Bhutan House in Kalimpong on 29 August 1923, the daughter of Gongzim Sonam Tobgye Dorji and Sikkim Princess Choying Wangmo Dorji.
In 1952, she was sent by the Third King, His Majesty Jigme Dorji Wangchuck to eastern Bhutan to help the people who were being harshly taxed by local rulers, empowering her to give Kidu (land) to the Zaps and Tayps (landless classes). This became known as Ashi Tashi Thram and stopped the mass exodus of Bhutanese from the east to India.
In 1962, Tashi represented her brother Jigme Palden Dorji, the Prime Minister of Bhutan, at the 14th meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Colombo Plan, held in Melbourne, Australia.
On 11 July 2018 Ashi Tashi Dorji was the first Bhutanese national to be made an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia, in recognition of establishing strong ties between the two countries.
Betty Sherriff nee Graham was born at the turn of the century in British India in the Himalayan foothills. She was the youngest daughter of a Scottish vicar and missionary. Dr. John Anderson Graham, who had founded the St. Andrew's Colonial Homes (now the Kalimpong Homes) on behalf of needy Indian children. She had previously been married and had a degree in Botany from Oxford.
Sources: Lost in Tibet: The Untold Story of Five American Airmen, a Doomed Plane, and the Will to Survive by Richard Starks and Miriam Murcutt
Primula by John Richards