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."