On Thursday, the country of Bhutan has crowned its fifth king after waiting two years for court astrologers to determine the perfect time for the next royalty. At precisely 8:31 A.M., the Raven Crown was placed on 28-year old Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and he was given the title of Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King.
"The ceremony, symbolizing the strength of the monarchy, was seen as a deeply reassuring moment for the last independent Himalayan Buddhist kingdom — once one of the most cutoff, tightly controlled places on earth, but now slowly opening up to the uncertainties of modernity and vagaries of democracy."
"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.
'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.
With so much faith being placed on guidance from the monarchy, the last two years have been somewhat bewildering for Bhutan as King Jigme Singye Wangchuck announced he was giving up much of his power to transform the nation into a democracy.
Under his reforms the king remains the head of state and will continue to have extensive powers, but Parliament can impeach him by a two-thirds majority.
At the same time he abdicated in favor of his Oxford-educated eldest son Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck — a handsome bachelor with an Elvis Presley-like hairstyle and sideburns."
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