ABSTRACT
This chapter tells of Dorji Dolma, born in 1930 to the Golog people in a remote area of Tibet and the last in a line of four generations of rulers, two of whom were women. Dorji Dolma’s grandmother, Srigyi Dolma, was the first female chieftain of this Queen’s Tribe. She bore two children to the son of the chieftain of a neighbouring clan but parted from him for the sake of her tribe. She was widely respected for her capable management and diplomatic skills in negotiations with the Chinese Qing court’s minister and was honoured by the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama for her just and kind governance. Dorji Dolma’s mother and the second queen, Lude, was also a skilled negotiator who mediated with the powerful Muslim Ma family. Dorji Dolma was raised to succeed her mother, but in the new political geography after 1949, she eventually declined to continue the Queen’s Tribe lineage.
