SIKKIM WHERE THERE'S HOPE GUESTS IN TOP HATS AND CUTAWAYS MINGLED WITH 
OTHERS IN FUR-FLAPPED CAPS AND KNEE-LENGTH YAKSKIN BOOTS LAST WEEK OUTSIDE 
THE TINY BUDDHIST CHAPEL IN SIKKIM'S DOLLHOUSE HIMALAYAN CAPITAL OF GANGTOK 
. WEDDING PARCELS FROM TIFFANY'S WERE PILED SIDE BY SIDE WITH 
BUNDLED GIFTS OF RANKSMELLING TIGER AND LEOPARD SKINS . OVER 28,146-FT 
. MOUNT KANCHENJUNGA, THE WORLD'S THIRD HIGHEST MOUNTAIN AND SIKKIM'S " 
PROTECTING DEITY, " HUNG A BLUE HAZE . IT WAS AN 
" AUSPICIOUS SIGN, " SAID GANGTOK ASTROLOGERS, FOR THE WEDDING OF 
A QUIET, BLUE-EYED NEW YORK GIRL, HOPE COOKE, 22, AND GYALSAY 
RIMPOCHE MAHARAJKUMAR PALDEN THONDUP NAMGYAL, 39, CROWN PRINCE OF THE INDIAN 
PROTECTORATE OF SIKKIM, A TINY TERRITORY THE SIZE OF DELAWARE, WHICH 
HAS 3,000 VARIETIES OF RHODODENDRONS, AND WHERE, ACCORDING TO LOCAL LEGEND, 
THE DEVILS ALWAYS TRAVEL UPHIL . THE AMERICAN TOUCH . THE 
WARD OF FORMER U.S . AMBASSADOR TO IRAN SELDEN CHAPIN AND 
A GRADUATE IN ORIENTAL STUDIES FROM SARAH LAWRENCE, HOPE MET HER 
WIDOWED FUTURE HUSBAND FOUR YEARS AGO WHILE SHE WAS VACATIONING AT 
THE INDIAN RESORT OF DARJEELING . BUT WHEN THE COUPLE ANNOUNCED 
PLANS TO MARRY LAST YEAR, SIKKIMESE SOOTHSAYERS FORCED THE POSTPONEMENT OF 
THE WEDDING BECAUSE OF THEIR FORECAST THAT 1962 WAS " A 
BLACK YEAR " FOR THE MARRIAGE . THUS HOPE HAD TO 
WAIT UNTIL LAST WEEK TO BECOME THE FIRST AMERICAN GIRL TO 
WED ROYALTY SINCE THE DAUGHTER OF A FORMER PHILADELPHIA BRICKLAYER MARRIED 
MONACO'S PRINCE RAINIER IN 1956 . HOPE'S WEDDING DRESS WAS A 
WRAPAROUND, FROST-WHITE BROCADE SILK MOKEY, HELD IN AT THE WAIST BY 
A GOLD BELT, FROM WHICH HUNG A SMALL DAGGER . TO 
WARD OFF EVIL SPIRITS, HOPE PRESSED HER HAND INTO A PIECE 
OF DOUGH . A PAIR OF HOLY MEN CONDUCTED HER TO 
THE CHAPEL, WHERE SHE WAS GREETED BY A FANFARE OF TRUMPETING, 
10FT.-LONG HIMALAYAN HORNS, BRAYING CONCH SHELLS, AND BOOMING BASS DRUMS . 
OUTSIDE THE CHAPEL DOOR WAS THE ONLY DISTINCTIVELY AMERICAN TOUCH IN 
THE $60,000 BUDDHIST RITE A MAT ON WHICH WAS WRITTEN IN 
ENGLISH, " GOOD LUCK . " BILLIONS OF DEITIES . DURING 
THE 50MINUTE BUDDHIST CEREMONY, HOPE SAT ON A THRONE SLIGHTLY LOWER 
THAN THAT OF THE CROWN PRINCE, WHO IN TURN WAS SEATED 
LOWER THAN HIS FATHER, THE 69-YEAR-OLD MAHARAJAH OF SIKKIM . AFTER 
DRINKING TEA LACED WITH YAK BUTTER, A RED-ROBED BUDDHIST LAMA IN 
A FLAME-SHAPED HAT INVOKED THE BLESSINGS OF THE SNOW LIONS AND 
BILLIONS OF OTHER SIKKIMESE DEITIES . NO WEDDING VOWS WERE SPOKEN 
; THE COUPLE MERELY EXCHANGED 12-FT.-LONG WHITE SILK SCARVES, WHICH WERE 
HUNG AROUND EACH OTHER'S NECK TO SEAL THEIR MARRIAGE CONTRACT . 
THE END OF THE CEREMONY SET OFF A FOURDAY CELEBRATION IN 
GANGTOK, WHOSE NORMAL POPULATION OF 12,000 SWELLED TO 15,000 FOR THE 
EVENT . MOUNTAIN TRIBESMEN IN BLUE PAJAMALIKE CLOTHES DANCED IN THE 
STREETS . MIXING HAPPILY WITH THE CELEBRATORS, HOPE SETTLED INTO HER 
NEW ROLE WITH APLOMB . WHEN A PIGTAILED SIKKIMESE GIRL ASKED 
FOR HER AUTOGRAPH, THE NEW CROWN PRINCESS SIGNED WITHOUT A MOMENT'S 
HESITATION : " HOPE NAMGYAL . HOPE IS THE DAUGHTER OF 
MR . AND MRS . JOHN J . COOKE . WHEN 
HER PARENTS WERE DIVORCED, CUSTODY OF HOPE WAS GIVEN TO HER 
MOTHER . WHEN HER MOTHER DIED, SHE BECAME THE WARD OF 
HER MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS, MR . AND MRS . WINCHESTER NOYES . 
WHEN THEY DIED, SHE BECAME THE WARD OF HER UNCLE, AMBASSADOR 
CHAPIN . 