Barbara Adams, free spirit and American expatriate in Nepal, dies at 84

[WhiteTara]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/barbara-adams-free-spirit-and-american-expatriate-in-nepal-dies-at-84/2016/04/23/07e353d0-08bf-11e6-bdcb-0133da18418d_story.html

“I was sitting at the Yak and Yeti bar of the Royal Hotel, and the prince mistook me for someone else.”

And so began the remarkable Himalayan journey of Barbara Adams.

The year was 1961. The onetime Washington schoolgirl was, at 29, a free spirit and an expatriate, having spent most of the previous decade in Rome.

When she caught the prince’s eye, she was in Kathmandu, on assignment for an Italian magazine to cover the state visit of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II to Nepal. Ms. Adams stayed as the “royal consort” — or openly acknowledged mistress — of Prince Basundhara, the brother of the king.

She was a striking figure, then and always, with her blond hair, piercing blue eyes and charismatic nature. In Kathmandu, where bicycles and horses were the typical means of transport, Ms. Adams drove a white Sunbeam convertible.


What a wonderful life this woman lived.