Kathmandu, Aug. 30 -- When Erika read the story to the King, he cried out, "But that is I, Erika! And that is you!" The King asked if he might keep the story and Erika said, "It was written for you, but I promise you, one day the whole world will know."

The king is King Tribhuvan. Erika is Erika Leuchtag, a German physiotherapist. The story is the book With a King in the Clouds which came out in 1958, and a later edition titled Erika and the King published by Coward-McCann Inc.

The book is an intimate history of King Tribhuvan during Nepal's political transition, his queens Kanti and Ishwari and the princesses Nalini, Vijaya and Bharati, who were not allowed to leave the Narayanhiti Palace by Nepal's Rana rulers.

The 270-page memoir be...