Former ruler's elderly mistress to stay

KATHMANDU: For more than half a century, few Nepalis knew of the mysterious elderly woman living in Katmandu's royal palace.

They found out Wednesday about Sarala Gorkhali when authorities announced the frail 94-year-old could stay in the palace even though Nepal's recently deposed king was being forced to move.

The reason: she was the youngest mistress of King Tribhuwan, who ruled the Himalayan kingdom from 1911 until his death in 1955, and has no house to move to or any relatives to take her in, interim Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula said.