#genepil

The Queen consort of Mongolia, Genepil, in Mongolia. The last queen consort and married to the Bogd Khaganate, Bogd Khan, until his death on April 17th, 1924, when the monarchy was abolished. She was killed during the Stalinist purges in May 1938. Photograph dated January 1st, 1923.

Queen Genepil (1905-1938), the last wife of the last Mongol Khan, is a woman shrouded in mystery yet one whose story has endured. She was queen consort for less than a year in 1924 but her story has captivated successive generations. At the debut of a film about the late queen her 70-year-old daughter Tserenkhand recalled the sudden disappearance of her mother as a child saying, “They took her away at night. She did not wake us, only left a piece of sugar on our pillows. I still remember the joy of a sudden discovery of that rare delicacy in the morning”. The VIII Jetsundhampa, the Bogd Khan, married his first wife, the famous Ekh Dagina, after falling madly in love with her and her death in 1923 effected the ailing monk-monarch profoundly. Queen Genepil lived with the Bogd Khan until his death when the monarchy was abolished. She then returned to her family though it is unknown if she went back to her first husband or ever remarried. Sadly, with the Khan gone, the communists were able to drop all pretences and instituted a vicious crackdown against all reminders of the old regime. Because of her former status Queen Genepil was targeted, arrested in 1937 and, along with her family, was executed in the purges of 1938. All that remained of her memory was a secret, forbidden song passed on to a historian by an old man who had been taught it by a former servant of the Bogd Khan, who taught it to him while the two were imprisoned by the communists. Aftermath: She was accused (falsely) of colaborating with the Japanese to restore the old government of Mongolia (Mongol khanate). She was executed at age 33, five months pregnant. Horrible.

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The last queen of Mongolia, Queen Genepil, 1920's.