Wars, politics & history

Birth of Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck

21 February 1980

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was born on 21 February 1980 in Kathmandu. The reigning king of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck became the Dragon King in 2006, when his father, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, abdicated, and was formally crowned in 2008, the year Bhutan held its first parliamentary elections as a constitutional monarchy. Educated in the United States and at Oxford, he is the youngest reigning monarch in the world to hold such a post. His reign has emphasized the Himalayan kingdom's philosophy of Gross National Happiness, conservation, education and the development of hydropower. In 2011 he married Jetsun Pema, a commoner, in a ceremony that drew international attention.

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