Tutor Remebers Slain King's Harvard Days

Tutor speaks Out about Nepal King's death

By EUGENIA B. SCHRAA

Crimson Staff Writer

During his year as a Harvard undergraduate, Narayan Shrestha was with the late king of Nepal--gunned down in his palace last Friday--so often that people mistook him for the king's bodyguard.

"Actually, he doesn't mind at all [that people were confused about his function] because he would have done anything to protect the king," says his son, Pankauz N. Shrestha.

In fact, Narayan Shrestha was crown prince Birendra Shah Dev's tutor. Today, following Shah Dev's murder, he suffers from a "huge emotional loss," according to his son.

Harvard--home to the late king and Narayan Shrestha in 1967--was a great learning opportunity for both the crown prince and his tutor, Shrestha says.

"It was one of the most fruitful years in both of our lives," he says. "Harvard taught us how to think. Because we were in the company of leading minds from around the world, it added a global dimension to our education."

The two were special students at Harvard, exclusively taking seminars in order to make the most of the short time they had to study. Henry A. Kissinger '50 and Samuel P. Huntington, both professors of government, taught them personally.

"We were fascinated by their lectures," Shrestha says.

Harvard contributed to the cosmopolitan education that the palace wanted for the crown prince, who became king in 1972, Pankauz Shrestha says.

Shah Dev had been educated at St. Joseph's in Darjeeling, India and at England's Eton before his two-year college tour began. He spent a few months at Tokyo University and the next year, 1967, at Harvard. He was to spend more time in other countries, such as Israel, but his trip was cut short when his father, King Mahendra, had a heart attack.

Narayan Shrestha was chosen as the prince's tutor because of his educational background, which included college at Leeds University, in England. The 28-year-old was a professor of English literature.

Friends' suspicions that Shrestha was the crown prince's protector may not have been entirely misplaced.

"We spent a lot of time trying to shake Narayan off our tail," says Ko-Yung Tung '70, Shah Dev's best friend at Harvard. "If we wanted to visit friends at Wellesley, we would tell him we were going to study at the library, and go."

"We had fun, but Shah Dev was a very, very studious student," Tung adds. "He knew he was being groomed to be the king."

The two were socially as well as academically privileged, however. They were admitted to the Fox final club without a formal punch process, according to Whitney Beales '68, a friend from the Fox.

Being friends with the crown prince had its perks. Friends used to squeeze into his beloved black Jaguar XKE for rides.

The two-seater sent Shah Dev off to many sites outside Boston. Shah Dev was an avid traveler, visiting New York City and other places on weekends, Beales says. During spring break, he and Shrestha drove all the way to Florida, Pankauz Shrestha says.

In addition to academics, an equally important part of the college experience was "meeting other students, many of whom have remained lifelong friends," Narayan Shrestha says.

Kong says he believes that he was one of the few people whom Shah Dev could regard "as a friend, [without being] afraid of political repercussions."

Pankauz Shrestha says Shah Dev's year at Harvard was one of the few times the king could interact with other people on in informal basis. "[It was] one of the few places where he could really be himself," he says.

--Staff Writer Eugenia B. Schraa can be reached at schraa@fas.harvard.edu