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Bhutan king to marry India-educated bride Oct 13
The date is set for a royal wedding. Bhutan's 31-year-old
king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck will tie the knot with his
India-educated bride, Jetsun Pema, Oct 13, an official of her alma
mater here said Friday.
Jetsun is an alumna of the prestigious Lawrence School in the Kasauli »
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Punakha (Bhutan): The
Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan Thursday crossed yet another historic
threshold with its 31-year-old King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk
entering into a wedlock with his commoner heartthrob, 21-year-old
student Jetsun Pema at a lavish ceremony.
The Buddhist marriage rituals were held at the 17th century
monastic fortress in Punakha, the former capital of Bhutan, with
the Oxford-educated king coming down from his throne to place the
crown on the head of the stunning Pema. Punakha is about 80 km
from capital Thimphu.
And immediately the fortress reverberated with chants of Buddhist
hymns by monks clad in maroon and yellow robes as the newlywed
Pema was escorted by the king to the throne.
Former king Jigme Singye Wangcuk, who abdicated the throne in
favour of his son and ushered in transition from absolute monarchy
in the Himalayan kingdom, and his four queens as also the entire
royal family were present to bless the newlyweds.
Jigme Singye Wangcuk, flanked by his four wives, handed the
blessed, coloured scarves to the nervous-looking bride. The young
groom wore a crown adorned with a raven's head during the rituals
in keeping with the tradition.
After the rituals, the king and the queen walked out of the
fortress to greet thousands of people waiting to have their
glimpse.
The king broke protocol to pat children on their head and shaking
hands with the crowd outside the fortress. The king and the queen
also greeted the guests by waving at them after the marriage
rituals.
"Now we have a king and a queen, and for the Bhutanese people this
is like a symbol of body, spirit and mind coming together. It is
so important because we see it as reminding people of family
values," said Kinley Dorji, Bhutan's information secretary.
Pema was dressed in a yellow-red jacket and skirt, and her crown
glittered as a select 300 guests inside the fortress looked in awe
as the deep-throated chanting of Buddhist hymns echoed in the
fortress.
The king is thought to have known Pema, the daughter of an airline
pilot, since she was a young girl. A biography released by the
palace listed her interests as fine arts, painting and basketball.
Jetsun Pema, who was born in Thimphu June 4, 1990, stands pretty
at 5 feet 10 inches.
She had joined the Lawrence School at Sanawar in Himachal Pradesh
in 2006 and cleared her plus-two examination in 2008. Before
joining Sanawar, she studied at St. Joseph's Convent in Kalimpong
in West Bengal and Changangkha Lower Secondary School and
Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School in Thimphu, Bhutan. She
graduated from Regents College, London.
Pema comes from the Bumthang Pangtey family and her father,
Dhondup Gyaltshen, is an airline pilot for the past 22 years.
Earlier he was with Bhutan's national airlines, the Druk Air, and
now flies with Bahrain Airways. Jetsun Pema has two brothers and
two sisters.
Indian guests at the royal wedding included Jyotiraditya Scindia,
ambassador Pavan Varma, former foreign secretary Shyam Saran,
former ambassador Dileep Mehta, the late Arjun Singh's grandson
Aishwarya Singh and his wife Devyani Rana, and journalists Karan
Thapar and Malvika Singh.
The royal couple left for Thimphu by road in the afternoon even as
thousands of people lined up along the roads to have a glimpse of
the newlyweds.
King Jigme is widely revered in Bhutan, a nation of some 700,000
people that made a historic shift from absolute monarchy to
parliamentary democracy in 2008.
King Jigme was enthroned as the monarch in 2006 after his father
Jigme Singye Wangcuk abdicated the throne in favour of his son.
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