King of Bhutan

King of Bhutan
Dragon King of Bhutan
Incumbent
Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
since 12 December 2006
Details
StyleHis Majesty
Heir apparentJigme Namgyel Wangchuck
First monarchUgyen Wangchuck
Formation17 December 1907; 116 years ago (1907-12-17)
ResidenceSamteling Palace, Thimphu
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Politics of Bhutan
Constitution
Monarchy
State religion
Government
Executive

Parliament

Judiciary

Elections
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations

The King of Bhutan, officially the Druk Gyalpo (འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་; lit. 'Dragon King'), is the constitutional monarch and head of state of the Kingdom of Bhutan.[1] In the Dzongkha language, Bhutan is known as Drukyul which translates as "The Land of the Thunder Dragon". Thus, while kings of Bhutan are known as Druk Gyalpo ("Dragon King"), the Bhutanese people call themselves the Drukpa, meaning "people of Druk (Bhutan)".

The current sovereign of Bhutan is Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the fifth Druk Gyalpo.[2] He wears the Raven Crown, which is the official crown worn by the kings of Bhutan. He is correctly styled "Mi'wang 'Ngada Rinpoche" ("His Majesty") and addressed "Ngada Rimboche" ("Your Majesty").[3][4]

King Jigme Khesar was the youngest reigning monarch in the world, being 26 years old when he ascended the throne on 9 December 2006 after his father, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, abdicated the throne in his favour.[2] He was 28 years old when he was crowned on 6 November 2008.[5]

  1. ^ Article 2: The Institution of Monarchy (PDF). ISBN 99936-754-0-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011.
  2. ^ a b "A Legacy of Two Kings". Bhutan 2008. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010.
  3. ^ "༈ རྫོང་ཁ་ཨིང་ལིཤ་ཤན་སྦྱར་ཚིག་མཛོད། ༼མི༽" [Dzongkha-English Dictionary: "MI"]. Dzongkha-English Online Dictionary. Dzongkha Development Commission, Government of Bhutan. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  4. ^ "༈ རྫོང་ཁ་ཨིང་ལིཤ་ཤན་སྦྱར་ཚིག་མཛོད། ༼མང-༽" [Dzongkha-English Dictionary: "MNGA"]. Dzongkha-English Online Dictionary. Dzongkha Development Commission, Government of Bhutan. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  5. ^ "Himalayan state crowns youngest king in the world". France 24. 6 November 2008. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009.