Royal wedding electrifies Bhutan
Source: Agencies |
October 13, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHILDREN composed poems of joy, flight attendants and bank clerks practised celebratory dances, and the airwaves were flooded with wedding fever as the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan prepared for the marriage of its beloved fifth Dragon King.
Today's ceremony, while far less star-studded than this year's other royal wedding - Britain's William and Kate - will be no less elaborate in its uniquely Bhutanese way.
"It is the biggest occasion I will ever see in my life," said Tshewang Rinzin, 27, a loan officer.
The couple will be married by Bhutan's top Buddhist cleric in the country's most sacred monastery fortress in the old capital of Punakha early in the morning at an auspicious time determined by astrologers.
During hours of ceremonies, the 31-year-old king, Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, will be adorned with royal scarves. His bride, 21-year-old Jetsun Pema, will present him with a chalice filled with the ambrosia of eternal life that he will drink, and he will place a crown upon the new queen's head.
"It is a very emotional experience, a spiritual experience as well," Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley said.
Yet there will be no foreign princes, no visiting heads of state, no global celebrities - just the royal family, thousands of villagers and the rest of the country's 700,000 people watching live on TV.
"The whole theme of the wedding was to keep it a simple family affair," said Kinley Dorji, Bhutan's secretary of information.
Bhutanese have been waiting for their bachelor king to find a bride and start a family of his own since his father retired and handed power to him five years ago.
The Oxford-educated king is adored for pushing development and ushering in democratic reforms. His teen-idol looks, his penchant for evening bicycle rides through the streets and his reputation as a laid-back, accessible leader, also make him the rare monarch whose picture adorns the bedroom walls of teenage girls.
His bride is the daughter of a pilot.
Today's ceremony, while far less star-studded than this year's other royal wedding - Britain's William and Kate - will be no less elaborate in its uniquely Bhutanese way.
"It is the biggest occasion I will ever see in my life," said Tshewang Rinzin, 27, a loan officer.
The couple will be married by Bhutan's top Buddhist cleric in the country's most sacred monastery fortress in the old capital of Punakha early in the morning at an auspicious time determined by astrologers.
During hours of ceremonies, the 31-year-old king, Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, will be adorned with royal scarves. His bride, 21-year-old Jetsun Pema, will present him with a chalice filled with the ambrosia of eternal life that he will drink, and he will place a crown upon the new queen's head.
"It is a very emotional experience, a spiritual experience as well," Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley said.
Yet there will be no foreign princes, no visiting heads of state, no global celebrities - just the royal family, thousands of villagers and the rest of the country's 700,000 people watching live on TV.
"The whole theme of the wedding was to keep it a simple family affair," said Kinley Dorji, Bhutan's secretary of information.
Bhutanese have been waiting for their bachelor king to find a bride and start a family of his own since his father retired and handed power to him five years ago.
The Oxford-educated king is adored for pushing development and ushering in democratic reforms. His teen-idol looks, his penchant for evening bicycle rides through the streets and his reputation as a laid-back, accessible leader, also make him the rare monarch whose picture adorns the bedroom walls of teenage girls.
His bride is the daughter of a pilot.
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