Tibetan Princess

Gonpo Tso, the daughter of a king, once lived in a three-story adobe castle in Aba, China. She now calls a tiny walk-up apartment in Dharamsala, India, home.

Gonpo Tso, foreground, with her father, the king, Rapten Tinley, fourth from left, and others in Aba, China. Her past, full of reversals of fortune, offers a window on the tortured history between China and Tibet.

Tibetan children play near a shrine in Aba built to honor Gonpo Tso’s father, Rapten Tinley. His people were fiercely independent; the king reported neither to the Tibetan government nor the Chinese.

Gonpo Tso is flanked by Tsering Kangnyag, left, a monk at Kirti Monastery in Dharamsala, India, and Pempa Tsering. The princess works for the Tibetan government in exile there.

Gonpo Tso has been living in Dharamsala, India, where the Dalai Lama is based, since arriving there on a pilgrimage in 1989.

Gonpo Tso was born a princess, but her life of privilege unraveled under the Communists’ rule in China.

Gonpo Tso, right, with one of her two daughters at the Kirti Monastery in India. “I was the only living child of the Mei king. I felt duty bound to stay here,” Gonpo says of her decision to remain in Dharamsala, away from her husband, who lives in China.

The home of Rapten Tinley, Gonpo Tso’s father, who ruled over a now-defunct kingdom in Aba, China, still stands. The local government seeks to turn it into a tourist attraction.