Thimpu: The isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is to crown its new ruler tomorrow, with an Oxford-educated bachelor ascending as head of state of the world's newest democracy.
The coronation of 28-year-old Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who will become the world's youngest reigning monarch, caps an effort by the Bhutanese royals to survive by modernising and relinquishing absolute power over the Buddhist country.
Home to just over 6,00,000 people and wedged in remote hills and mountains between India and China, Bhutan held its first democratic elections for a new parliament and prime minister in March.
Wangchuck is the eldest of his father's five sons and five daughters. The former king abdicated nearly two years ago as part of an effort to allow the "leadership of a new king and a democratic system of government".
Although the royals are widely revered in Bhutan, the royal family will have watched with worry the start of a Maoist insurgency in nearby Nepal back in 1996, which culminated in the abolition of the monarchy this year.
"The best time to change a political system is when the country enjoys stability and peace," Bhutan's former king said when he began the democratic reform process in 2005.
"Why wait for a revolution? Why crown an heir only when the nation is in mourning for a late king?"
Before the Wangchuk dynasty took over a century ago, the "Land of the Thunder Dragon," which was never colonised, was divided up into local fiefdoms.
The country had no roads or currency until the 1960s and allowed television only in 1999. It also famously uses the principle of Gross National Happiness , and not common economic indicators, to measure national well-being.
