The first king, Ugyen Wangchuck, was a masterful warrior-diplomat who was able to crush constant clan warfare and woo the British overlords in neighbouring India. London approved his proclamation of a kingdom in 1907.

When the British withdrew 40 years later, India replaced it as Bhutan’s protector. That role continues today: India is Bhutan’s biggest investor and customer.

The new king is an unexpected addition to the colourful array of personalities destined to play a role in this sensitive India-China border region.

For 34 years, his father, King Jigme Singhye Wangchuck, presided over a potentially tumultuous but ultimately calm period of rapid change. He has four strikingly beautiful wives, all sisters. King Jigme Khesar’s mother is his father’s third wife.

Educated in the United States and Britain, the handsome fifth king, the world’s youngest ruling monarch, is still single. He was catapulted onto the throne in December 2006. With little advance warning, his father, then a vigorous 51-year-old, announced that he would abdicate during the Wangchuck dynasty’s centenary celebrations.

It was time, he told his people, for the Crown Prince to take over Bhutan’s Raven Crown, which is named after the crown’s stylized raven’s head.

Before leaving, he engineered Bhutan’s transition from absolute monarchy to a limited parliamentary democracy. He now appoints five members of the National Council, the upper house, and the people elect the 47-member National Assembly or lower house. In the March election, the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party won all but two seats.

The new government is committed to the fourth king’s notable contribution to theories of national development, the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH). Reacting to criticism in the early 1970s that Bhutan was developing too slowly, he had declared that his kingdom would not rush into the 20th century. Instead, individual and environmental rights would take precedence over headlong entry into modernisation and consumerism.

To a visitor, GNH is most visible in the slow, even tempo of life, the pristine countryside and clear mountain air. Plastic bags and tobacco products are banned. Outdoor advertising for soft drinks, MTV and televised wrestling matches are also not allowed. Said Bhutanese guide Chodrup: “They do little to promote happiness.”

The Raven Crown | My Sinchew