Their Majesties, King Jigme Khesar Namgel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema, spent Tuesday in Bhutan’s Dochula pass to observe the first ever Dochula Druk Wangyel festival. The event is meant to honor Bhutan’s fourth King, Jigme Singye, and the Royal Bhutan Army for protecting the Himalayan country.
Click here for photos at the Queen Jetsun Facebook fan page
Standing in the freezing cold, the King and Queen, along with Jigme Singye who stepped down in 2008 for his son, watched as mostly Bhutanese soldiers performed traditional dances steeped in mythology and history.
The festival lasted between four to six hours in a mountain range 3000m above sea level. About 2,000 Bhutanese also gathered to watch the performances.
Wearing masks and colorful clothing, the performers danced and played music. Sometimes the men and the women danced together, which is unusual.
Also at the festival were songs performed in honor of former King Jigme Singye.
The Dochula Druk Wangyel festival will for now on take place twice a year starting in 2012.
To learn more about Dochula Druk Wangyel, go here. To see specatular photos of the dances, click here.
Yesterday began the first visit to Japan of any kind by a Bhutanese King. The state visit is meant to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Japanese-Bhutan diplomatic ties.
Click here to see more photos at Daylife.com
King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his new wife, Queen Jetsun Pema, arrived in Tokyo and quickly met with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his wife. The two expressed their condolences over the devastating March 11th earthquake and tsunami. Meanwhile the Prime Minister congratulated them on their wedding last month. The King and Noda then discussed ways to tighten their countries relations.
On Wednesday, the couple met with members of the Imperial family. They were greeted at the palace by Crown Prince Naruhito and took part in a welcoming ceremony.
Naruhito is standing in for his father, Emperor Akihito, who is still being hospitalized with a bad cough.
In the evening, the King and Queen will be guests of honor at a state banquet at the palace.
During their itinerary, the Bhutanese royals will go to local schools, visit the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto to learn about the country’s culture, and also tour the areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.
In addition, King Jigme will receive a honorary doctorate in economics from Keio University and will give a speech to Parliament.
King Jigme and Queen Jetsun are the first state guests to Japan since the devastation earlier this year.
Bhutan, which focuses on limiting the effects of outside influences in the country, has diplomatic ties to only 25 countries plus the European Union.
On the third day of national celebrations, Bhutan’s newly-wedded King arrived in its capital with his new wife and Queen. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema were welcomed in Thimpu to large, cheering crowds early Friday morning following their Thursday wedding.
Click here for more images at Daylife.com
The couple traveled from the ancient Buddhist monastic fortress of Punakha, where they were married, to Thimpu, mostly by foot. They had intended to travel by car, but the crowds along the way were too ecstatic for the King and Queen, that the two stepped out of the vehicle to greet, hug, kiss and say thank you to the Bhutanese people. The return to the capital took about eleven hours, which would’ve taken three by car.
Upon arriving in Thimpu, 25,000 people cheered and rushed to the couple, offering white scarves, which symbolize respect.
The last time Bhutan saw such euphoria and large crowds was three years ago when King Jigme was crowned at Punakha and made a similar journey back to Thimpu. He also had to stop along the way to greet his subjects.
King Jigme is known for his down-to-earth personality. Instead of living in a palace, he lives in a nearby cottage where he invites common Bhutanese to have tea with him and listen to their concerns.
On Saturday, Jigme and Jetsun observed dances and singing at a stadium in Thimpu, which brought a close to the nation-wide celebrations.
The King and Queen are set to honeymoon in the Indian state of Rajasthan, though it is not precisely known when.
In an event that transfixed the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, its 31 year old King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck married his 21 year old girlfriend, Jetsun Pema, in a elaborate Buddhist ceremony Thursday morning. It was broadcast live on Bhutanese television, something that was introduced there only in 1999.
View more photos of the wedding here at Daylife.com
It began with Jetsun, dressed in gold silk wedding attire, arrived at the fortress lead by singers, relatives, Buddhist monks and a white horse at the front. Young elephants were guarding the monastery.
Inside, King Jigme Khesar and his father, the former King Jigme Singye, entered a sacred chamber holding the 17th-century remains of Bhutan’s founder, where they received holy Buddhist scarves and a chalice of ambrosia that represents eternal life.
The scarves were then given to Jetsun and she and her groom drank from the chalice. Throughout the ceremony, the King wore his raven crown while she received a crown made of silk. They also received gifts representing longevity, wisdom and other positive attributes.
Once the ceremony was over, Jigme walked about the crowds outside of the monastery, shaking hands and patting children on the head. His new Queen walked shyly behind him.
“I am happy. I have been waiting quite some time,” he told reporters after the ceremony. “She is a wonderful human being, intelligent. Her and I share one big thing in common – love and passion for art.”
When asked how it felt to be married, the King replied, “It’s great – you should try it yourself.”
After this morning’s ceremony, Bhutan will celebrate with three days of dancing and drinking. On Saturday, the couple will return to the capital of Thimpu to a small sports stadium to watch the festivities.
Bhutan is a reclusive country, known for eschewing globalization and preferring its Buddhist identity. It’s population is 700,000.
The Buddhist Kingdom of Bhutan is right now counting down to the three day royal wedding set to take place starting Thursday. The people of this isolated country have been waiting excitedly since its 31 year old King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck announced back in May that he was getting married, and now the time has come.
Click here to see more photos!
All over Bhutan, photographs of the King with his bride-to-be, 21 year old Jetsun Pema, are decorating buildings and lamp posts. Buttons featuring the couple’s images are on sale, and the people in its capital, Thimpu, are preparing to celebrate in colorful clothes and dances for the next three days.
Meanwhile, the bride, and Queen-to-be, Jetsun Pema, traveled to the Druk Wangyal Lhakhang temple in Dochula where she offered prayers on the eve of her wedding. Once married, Jetsun will be the world’s youngest Queen, and perhaps the most beautiful.
It is said that the couple have known each other for years. In August, the King told villagers that when he was 17, he met a then 7 year old Jetsun during a family picnic in Thimpu. During that time, the future King told the young girl, “When you grow up, if I am single and not married and if you are single and not married, I would like you to be my wife, provided we still feel the same.”
And apparently they do!
King Jigme has been the monarch of this tiny Himalayan country since 2008. His father abdicated in order to bring in a more modern form of government, and this King is mostly a figurehead while his father was an absolute ruler. Despite not having much powers, Jigme is popular with his people due to his laidback, down to earth attitude.
Click here for gallery at Daylife.com
He is one of 10 children and was educated at Oxford. He is known for liking Elvis, mountain biking and playing basketball, something his wife-to-be also enjoys.
Not much is know about Bhutan’s next Queen, except she is the daughter of a pilot, educated in India and is a college student in Britain, where she studies international relations.
But the Bhutanese have noticed that the two are very much in love. During the period between their engagement announcement and their wedding, the couple went on a tour of the country’s villages. The people saw them openly hold hands.
“He really loves her,” said 16-year-old schoolgirl Jurme Choden as she waited to practise a dance routine for the public celebrations on Saturday. “Wherever he goes he holds her hand. Now young people are starting to copy.”
“I don’t know that much about her, but she’s beautiful,” said Zhung Chuck, a 23-year-old business student. “His Majesty chose the right one.”
Tomorrow morning, according to the most auspicious time by Buddhist monks, the couple will wed at a 17th-century fortress in the ancient capital Punakha. A senior Buddhist cleric will conduct the ceremony. It will be broadcast nationwide.
Don’t expect this wedding to have the same amount of guests as the recent royal weddings in Great Britain and Monaco did. No head of states have been invited, and the wives of Bhutan’s ministers have been left out due to seating issues. This wedding is intended to be purely modest.
See more photos of the preparations here.
King Jigme and the then Queen Jetsun will not emerge in public until Saturday, into a small sports stadium in Thimpu.
As Queen, Jetsun is expected to concentrate on charity work, but also to produce a much needed heir.
“If anything happened to our king, then who would take over the throne?” Tempa Gyeltshen told AFP. “What we are all hoping for is children.”
According to the new constitution, Jetsun will be Jigme’s only wife. His father had four, all sisters.
There’s another royal wedding in the works for 2011, and this time its in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. But this one would be low-key according to King Jigme Khesar Wangchuk, as he told parliament Friday of his intentions to marry commoner Jetsun Pema in October.
“The wedding will be in accordance with age-old tradition, to seek the blessings of our guardian deities,” the King said. “I ask the government not to make any plans for a grand celebration. The happiness of my beloved father and the blessings of our people will give me the greatest joy and happiness.”
21 year old Jetsun Pema is described by King Jigme as “warm and kind in heart and character”. She has been educated in India and in the U.K. Reports say Jetsun enjoys basketball, painting and the fine arts.
31 year-old King Jigme Khesar was crowned in 2008 after his father abdicated to usher in a new era in Bhutan where democracy is still something new. Same goes for electricity, television and the Internet in this isolated country, bordering Nepal, China and India.
Because his father had four wives, it is a wonder if King Jigme Khesar will polygamous as well. Or in keeping with the new era in Bhutan, will he keep only one wife?
On Wednesday, Princess Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuk of Bhutan met with members of Japan’s imperial family as she visited the country for the Kyoto eco forum. She was accompanied by her husband of 8 years, Palden Yoeser Thinley.
Jiji.com
The Princess first met with Crown Prince Naruhito, who’s wife Masako was not present, and later the Emperor and Empress.
Ashi’s role at the Kyoto eco forum is to have the representatives learn from her country, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, which only recently opened itself to the world. In the last fifteen years, it has allowed electricity, television, the Internet and democracy.
“Japan is a wonderful blend of country tradition and advanced technology,” Princess Ashi said “I hear there are a variety of problems, and you want to know the philosophy of Gross National Happiness for sustainable development.”
What Ashi means by Gross National Happiness is that her father, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk once said, “I am not concerned about the Gross National Product, but the Gross National Happiness of my people.”
The sister to King Jigme Khesar Wangchuk, Princess Ashi often represents Bhutan overseas, particularly in Asia.
The King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Wangchuk, was in Kolkatta Tuesday where he delivered a speech to the Convocation of Calcutta University. Although he was there to get his honorary degree, the young King was really there to make an emphasis on values based on humanity, rather than materialism.
Sushanta Patronobish/Hindu Business Line
“We have been born into a world where it is more likely that we will pursue material rewards, instead of what is morally right. And we will follow the path of individualism at the cost of community and fraternit,” King Jigme said.
He urged students to induce “a new kind of individualism – an individualism of values” that leads to progress as a person and then the progress of humanity.
“Values shape the future of humanity; the values are root of our character and if we do not tend the roots, the characters that spring from it, no matter how much wealth and fame surrounds it, will bring little benefit to oneself, the lives of others and to the well-being of the plant.”
The King expressed his feelings that there was a need for a fundamental change of thought – a social revolution that would change the way the humanity would pursue growth for ever.
“Our generation is called upon to rethink and to redefine the true purpose of growth,” he said.
“The journey forward has to be one that we must all make together and no one should be left behind.”
The King made note of several challenges facing the world today: degradation of environment, poverty, inequality and non-availability of health care to over a billion people.
“No matter how much scientific or material progress is made in our lifetime, global problems will prevail, in fact multiply and we will continue to endanger each other and the future of our children,” he said.
“None of us here may have, today, the wealth or skills to combat natural disasters or plug the ozone layer or remove world poverty but we know that there is one thing we can change – that is ourselves,” he said, adding, “that is the most important thing – that is the one obvious starting point in our quest to find a solution to global problems – one’s self.”
King Jigme has been King of Bhutan for only two years. Until 2008, Bhutan was an absolute monarchy, but this King’s father allowed for a constitution and stepped down to allow his son to takeover, in order to allow change to really come.
King Jigme is 30 years old and was educated at Oxford University.
Source: The Hindu Business Line, Royal Blog News Summary
The world’s youngest monarch, Bhutan’s Jigme Khesar Wangchuk, recently spoke at India’s National Defense College during a state visit to the country. His speech covered the issues of an increasing globalized world, and how important it is for nations and people to depend on each other.
None/Getty Images AsiaPac/FILE
“I truly believe that the only way to observe the most important things in life and in this world is by putting them through the lens of ‘Simplicity’. For in the end, no matter what country we may be from, we are human beings – no matter what our cultures and beliefs may be, we share the same needs and abide by the same fundamental values,” the King said.
“This is a world that is shared – not between governments and nations but among us, the people. It may sound idealistic – but this is a natural and practical way of approaching things that seem intractable and inflexible – no matter how big the problem. The image of a shared planet must always be present in our minds – and especially in the minds of those who are in positions of leadership.”
This is coming from a young man who’s Himalayan Kingdom has been emerging from centuries of isolation over the past decade. Bhutan only recently allowed television and the Internet into its borders, and is slowly opening itself to the rest of the world.
King Jigme went on to talk about the dependence of nations on one another.
“Individual or even national success is a ship that cannot carry everyone together to the same place at the same time”. Rich nations must stop to be mindful of the poorer ones left behind. Successful people must stop to remember those who didn’t make it. No nation today can stand alone in achievement. (…) The world must progress together or fail together,” he said.
The 29 year-old monarch then brought up what his father promoted during his days as King of Bhutan – GNH, or Gross National Happiness, over Gross National Product.
“Today, GNH has come to mean so many things to so many people but to me it signifies simply – Development with Values. I am confident that the noble goal of Gross National Happiness will be key to Bhutan’s success in maintaining our unity and harmony – indeed our character as a nation,” King Jigme said as he ended his speech.
The King was only crowned as King of Bhutan in November 2008.
The tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan crowned its new King today. Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, the 28 year old Oxford educated bachelor, is Bhutan’s fifth king.
King Jigme Khesar was coronated in an elaborate Buddhist ceremony in Thimpu, the country’s capital. Upon being crowned, he received the title, Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King. Jigme Khesar took over after his father, Jigme Singye, abdicated in 2006. Court astrologers waited for the most auspicious moment for a coronation during this time, to assure a successful reign.
Thousands of Bhutanese people gathered in Thimpu to enjoy the three day celebrations. Many see their King as a stronghold on their tiny kingdom, which is slowly opening up to democracy and modernity.
“We have enjoyed progress, sustained peace, security and growth. These are all attributed to the great kings, benevolent kings, selfless kings that Bhutan has had,” Bhutan’s Prime Minister Jigme Thinley, who was elected in the country’s first democratic elections in March, told reporters Wednesday.
Most Bhutanese believe it is the kings who have allowed the small nation of some 700,000 people to survive with their culture and sovereignty intact while sandwiched between 1.1 billion Indians to the south and 1.3 billion Chinese to the north.
These two Asian giants have already swallowed the other Buddhist kingdoms, like Sikkim or Tibet, that once thrived across the Himalayan range.
It is a wonder how much this new King will allow change to his country. Bhutan prides itself on concentrating on its Gross National Happiness, which seeks to follow strict Buddhist philosophy over materialism.
That concentration has kept Bhutan in a mostly medieval-like state, with few paved roads or electricity. King Jigme Singye only allowed television and the Internet in 1999.
The people of Bhutan hope the new king will follow the ways of his gentle-spoken, much-loved father. “This ceremony, it’s not just about crowning a prince,” said Tinle Tenzin, 39, who owns a shoe shop in Thimphu. “It is about a new king who we hope will bring much good for the country and the people in the future.”
As King Jigme Khesar walked among his people during the coronation festivities, he said, “The greatest gift I can ask for is this…being with you…my people.”
That concentration has kept Bhutan in a mostly medieval-like state, with few paved roads or electricity. King Jigme Singye only allowed television and the Internet in 1999.
Recent Comments