Cool imagery. :cool:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44885097/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/#.TpamrnK8g-o (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44885097/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/#.TpamrnK8g-o)
QuoteButan's 'Dragon King' marries his commoner bride
Wedding in 17th-century Buddhist monastery captivates Himalayan nation
PUNAKHA, Bhutan — Bhutan's beloved "Dragon King" married his commoner bride Thursday in an ancient Buddhist ceremony at the tiny Himalayan nation's most sacred monastery fortress.
King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, wearing the raven crown, came down from his golden throne in front of a huge statue of Buddha to place a smaller, silk brocade crown upon the head of his bride, Jetsun Pema.
Monks chanted in celebration as she took her seat beside him as the new queen of the country.
In a nation of 700,000 people where television was only introduced in 1999, the ceremony was broadcast live. Thousands of people, dressed in traditional colored robes, stood outside.
The wedding has captivated the nation, which had grown impatient with their 31-year-old bachelor king's lack of urgency to find a bride and start a family of his own since his father retired and handed power to him five years ago.
Children composed poems, flight attendants practiced celebratory dances and posters of the couple were nearly ubiquitous.
'A special feeling'
The celebrations began at 8:20 a.m. local time Thursday (10:20 p.m. ET Wednesday) — a time set by royal astrologers — when the king, wearing the royal yellow sash, walked into the courtyard of the 17th-century monastery in the old capital of Punakha and proceeded up the high staircase inside.
A few minutes later, his 21-year-old bride arrived at the end of a procession of red-robed monks and flag bearers across a wooden footbridge over the wide, blue river beside the fort.
The king's father, accompanied by his four wives, handed blessed, colored scarves to a nervous-looking bride.
"I am a very happy man today," said Kesang Chopel, 41, a Buddhist saffron-robed monk who watched the couple's arrival in Bhutan's former ancient capital. "There is the king, and there are so many masters here, lamas. There is a special feeling."
"The biggest consideration when choosing the queen was that the queen did not get in the way of him and his people," said one source close to the king.
Bhutan, known as the "Land of the Thunder Dragon" has been happy to promote a Shangri-la image with its snow-capped peaks and largely untouched forests. People must still wear the traditional knee-length robes in public.
Bhutan is famed for its "Gross National Happiness" index, an alternative to GDP that measures personal well-being and the environment rather than focusing on economic growth.
It has been reluctant to open up to the rest of the world.
Tourism was only allowed in the 1970s, and when the first car arrived in the 1950s many people thought it was a fire-eating dragon. The capital's attempts to have traffic lights were thwarted by residents complaining they were "unsightly."
Teenage pin-up
The 31-year-old monarch is known as the "people's king" for his relaxed manner with his subjects, and — sporting sideburns and swept-back hair — he is a pin-up for many teenage girls as far away as Thailand.
But Bhutan's fifth king, affectionately known as K5, also provides the checks and balances on an unsure democracy where political parties did not exist four years ago.
"The royal wedding has ensured the continuity of the monarchy," said Tshering Tobgay, Bhutan's opposition leader. "And monarchy has helped strengthen our democracy."
A successful monarchy may be key to bringing stability to a kingdom that sits amid a region racked by civil conflict and war. Neighboring Nepal's monarch was recently abolished.
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Wangchuck is not expected to follow the example of his father, who married four sisters from a wealthy family. Polygamy is allowed in Bhutan, but it is rare.
"While she is young, she is warm and kind in heart," Wangchuck said on an announcing his marriage to parliament. "These qualities together with the wisdom that will come with age and experience will make her a great servant to the nation."
The new king, a keen basketball player and archer, has jettisoned that reclusive and elitist image. He lives in a cottage in Thimphu, and often invites his subjects for tea.
He has spent months touring Bhutan's remote villages — often walking among villagers holding his bride-to-be by the hand.
But while an older generation will bow and refuse to look their king in the eye, a younger generation is happy to converse with their monarch.
"He is doing everything his father never did. He is meeting everyone, from taxi drivers to housewives," said Tashi Dorji, editor of Business Bhutan, a privately owned newspaper that has spearheaded probes into the government. "He is beyond reproach."
His Oxford University education has helped him develop a broader outlook that underscores how Bhutan is aware it must reach out to the world for investment to appease its growing urban and young population eager for jobs and the trappings of 21st-century life.
The king has other powers that make him popular. He can grant scarce farming land in a country where farmers that make up two thirds of the population, and he helps run disaster prevention.
Monks at a wedding. The irony.
Lets just hope they can hang on, republicanism sucks. I'm looking at you Nepal!
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It's good to be the King.
It's good to be the Queen too.
Just found out that the professor that I had all freshman year resigned this year as the director of the royal education council for health reasons. :(
http://www.businessbhutan.bt/?p=6455
Quote from: Valmy on October 13, 2011, 08:24:04 AM
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It's good to be the King.
:elvis:
He doesn't look like a total jerk, but alas he will have to lay his neck beneath the guillotine blade of progress. :(
Quote from: Valmy on October 13, 2011, 08:24:04 AM
It's good to be the King.
Apparently royal power in Bhutan extends to the right to raid Hugh Hefner's wardrobe.
Quote from: Martinus on October 13, 2011, 09:12:12 AM
He doesn't look like a total jerk, but alas he will have to lay his neck beneath the guillotine blade of progress. :(
Nah, it's Bhutan. He'll just retire like his father did.
Quote from: Tyr on October 13, 2011, 04:33:14 AM
Lets just hope they can hang on, republicanism sucks. I'm looking at you Nepal!
They tried to step down and become a democracy, but the people refused.
Seriously.
Holy crap, themmersome cheekbones!
Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on October 13, 2011, 09:36:35 AM
Quote from: Tyr on October 13, 2011, 04:33:14 AM
Lets just hope they can hang on, republicanism sucks. I'm looking at you Nepal!
They tried to step down and become a democracy, but the people refused.
Seriously.
It happens in some of those smaller countries. Didn't Liechtenstein vote it's prince more powers?
Quote from: Valmy on October 13, 2011, 09:42:35 AM
Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on October 13, 2011, 09:36:35 AM
Quote from: Tyr on October 13, 2011, 04:33:14 AM
Lets just hope they can hang on, republicanism sucks. I'm looking at you Nepal!
They tried to step down and become a democracy, but the people refused.
Seriously.
It happens in some of those smaller countries. Didn't Liechtenstein vote it's prince more powers?
Yeah, but I think the prince wanted more powers there.
In Bhutan, the King wanted his country to be a democracy, but the people all voted to keep the monarchy :lol:
Quote from: Valmy on October 13, 2011, 09:42:35 AM
It happens in some of those smaller countries. Didn't Liechtenstein vote it's prince more powers?
Prince Hans-Adam blackmailed to abdicate and exile himself with his whole family to Austria if the people didn't vote in favour of giving him more power. They folded.
I would make a good king. I wouldn't bother people much, and rarely leave the palace. Actually, I wouldn't even need a palace. If they just gave me an ordinary house and food I'd be good.
I wonder. Can the British royal family marry into the Japanese royal family?
Quote from: Martinus on October 13, 2011, 09:12:12 AM
He doesn't look like a total jerk, but alas he will have to lay his neck beneath the guillotine blade of progress. :(
the most progressive countries in the world are monarchies
Quote from: Tyr on October 13, 2011, 10:14:00 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 13, 2011, 09:12:12 AM
He doesn't look like a total jerk, but alas he will have to lay his neck beneath the guillotine blade of progress. :(
the most progressive countries in the world are monarchies
So are the most regressive.
Quote from: Razgovory on October 13, 2011, 09:45:50 PM
I wonder. Can the British royal family marry into the Japanese royal family?
As long as they're not Catholic.
Quote from: Razgovory on October 13, 2011, 09:44:50 PM
I would make a good king. I wouldn't bother people much, and rarely leave the palace. Actually, I wouldn't even need a palace. If they just gave me an ordinary house and food I'd be good.
I'd vote for you. :)
You don't vote for a king.
On Naboo you do.
Quote from: Razgovory on October 13, 2011, 10:21:17 PM
Quote from: Tyr on October 13, 2011, 10:14:00 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 13, 2011, 09:12:12 AM
He doesn't look like a total jerk, but alas he will have to lay his neck beneath the guillotine blade of progress. :(
the most progressive countries in the world are monarchies
So are the most regressive.
:lol:
I just knew someone would say that.
1: One or two of them are, most are republics.
2: Doesn't change that some of the most progressive countries in the world are monarchies therefore disproving that republicanism is needed for progress.
As long as the king is thoroughly neutered and kept in his gilded cage, like in England, I don't think it makes much of a difference.
I can understand this guy's reluctance to marry, but presumably he'll still have ample mistresses for the rest of his days, so all is well.
Quote from: Habbaku on October 13, 2011, 11:00:38 PM
You don't vote for a king.
The prince-electors beg to differ.
Quote from: Pitiful Pathos on October 14, 2011, 04:11:59 AM
As long as the king is thoroughly neutered and kept in his gilded cage, like in England, I don't think it makes much of a difference.
I can understand this guy's reluctance to marry, but presumably he'll still have ample mistresses for the rest of his days, so all is well.
On practical terms there aren't many differences between a constitutional monarchy, as is the case in almost all of Europe (except for a few zany outliers like Liechenstein where they still bite) and a republic, so I don't think that it's a big deal in terms of "progressiveness". IIRC the only exception to this was in Belgium when they wanted to pass something that the King was morally against, I can't remember if it had to deal with abortion, or same sex marriages or something. He was "forced" to take a day off or something, so the law could be passed with a council signing it instead of him.
As for the Bhutanese dude, well, the new Queen seems to be cute, and it says that his father has four wives (and sisters, to boot, family reunions must be a riot), so he can always add to the collection later on, besides the mistresses. It's good to be the king, and all that. Besides, as long as they keep the Gross National Happines thingie all is well in Bhutan. :lol:
Quote from: The Larch on October 14, 2011, 06:11:04 AM
On practical terms there aren't many differences between a constitutional monarchy, as is the case in almost all of Europe (except for a few zany outliers like Liechenstein where they still bite) and a republic, so I don't think that it's a big deal in terms of "progressiveness". IIRC the only exception to this was in Belgium when they wanted to pass something that the King was morally against, I can't remember if it had to deal with abortion, or same sex marriages or something. He was "forced" to take a day off or something, so the law could be passed with a council signing it instead of him.
It was abortion.
He wasn't forced, in fact he proposed it. Baudouin was a stauch Conservative Catholic and while he acknowledged the will of the Belgium Parliament it went against his Catholic conscience. So the King proposed the Regency compromise, so that the Belgium Cabinet gives the assent in his name while he was "unable to rule" for 24 hours.
Quote from: Valmy on October 13, 2011, 09:42:35 AMIt happens in some of those smaller countries. Didn't Liechtenstein vote it's prince more powers?
I think Sark voted to keep the feudal system until the European Court of Human Rights said they couldn't.
Quote from: Habbaku on October 13, 2011, 11:00:38 PM
You don't vote for a king.
Well how do you become king then?
Quote from: Iormlund on October 14, 2011, 07:15:52 AM
Quote from: Habbaku on October 13, 2011, 11:00:38 PM
You don't vote for a king.
Well how do you become king then?
By having a watery tart lob a scimitar at you, of course.
Quote from: Sheilbh on October 14, 2011, 07:14:31 AM
Quote from: Valmy on October 13, 2011, 09:42:35 AMIt happens in some of those smaller countries. Didn't Liechtenstein vote it's prince more powers?
I think Sark voted to keep the feudal system until the European Court of Human Rights said they couldn't.
Yet another example of massive overreach by the ECHR. Those scumbags are going to be first against the wall when the EU goes down.
Quote from: Neil on October 14, 2011, 08:37:27 AMYet another example of massive overreach by the ECHR. Those scumbags are going to be first against the wall when the EU goes down.
The ECHR is not part of the EU, it's an institution of the CoE.
Quote from: Zanza on October 14, 2011, 10:21:02 AM
The ECHR is not part of the EU, it's an institution of the CoE.
The Church of England's power is impressive.
Quote from: Valmy on October 14, 2011, 10:21:57 AM
Quote from: Zanza on October 14, 2011, 10:21:02 AM
The ECHR is not part of the EU, it's an institution of the CoE.
The Church of England's power is impressive.
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Quote from: Valmy on October 14, 2011, 10:21:57 AM
Quote from: Zanza on October 14, 2011, 10:21:02 AM
The ECHR is not part of the EU, it's an institution of the CoE.
The Church of England's power is impressive.
The van Hellsing Organization or more formally, The Royal Order of Protestant Knights is at their service. -_-
You guys let Russia in the Council of Europe?
Well, I guess Europe is already lost. You're all Slavs to me now.
Quote from: Zanza on October 14, 2011, 12:27:47 PM
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Jesus Christ, that's confusing.