![\"_52856287_012025572-1.jpg\"](\"webkit-fake-url:\/\/7EB544CE-9AB8-4F32-946F-72BA289D6717\/_52856287_012025572-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSource: BBC\u00a020 may 2011:\u00a0The 31-year-old king of the Himalayan nation of Bhutan has said that he intends to marry in October, local media report.<\/p>\n
The British-educated Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck said his future wife, 20-year-old student Jetsun Pema, would be a “great servant to the nation”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wangchuck is widely revered in the country of some 700,000 people.<\/p>\n
The king took over after the abdication in 2006 of his father, who began the country’s democratic transition.<\/p>\n
In March 2008, Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy and the king relinquished his absolute powers.<\/p>\n
‘Much thought’<\/p>\n
The minister of information, Dasho Kinley Dorji, told AFP that the king had made the announcement during the opening session of parliament.<\/p>\n
“As king, it is now time for me to marry. After much thought I have decided that the wedding shall be later this year,” the young king declared.<\/p>\n
“While she is young, she is warm and kind in heart and character.<\/p>\n
“These qualities together with the wisdom that will come with age and experience will make her a great servant to the nation.”<\/p>\n
The king said the most important characteristic of a future queen was that she was a good human being, and unwavering in her commitment to serve the people and country,\u00a0according to Bhutan’s Observer newspaper<\/a>.<\/p>\n “As my queen, I have found such a person and her name is Jetsun Pema,” the king added.<\/p>\n Dorji Wangchuk, an official from the royal press office, said a celebration would take place, but that the king had requested that the government should “not make big plans”.<\/p>\n “It is because of the lack of resources (in Bhutan), and secondly to make the celebrations more intimate and personal,” he told AFP news agency.<\/p>\n He said the young monarch had known Pema, who has been educated in India and Britain, for “quite some time”, and said she had begun to accompany the king on visits.<\/p>\n A biography released by the palace listed her interests as fine arts, painting and basketball.<\/p>\n Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck took over from his father, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in December 2006, however his formal coronation did not take place until 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Source: BBC\u00a020 may 2011:\u00a0The 31-year-old king of the Himalayan nation of Bhutan has said that he intends to marry in October, local media report. The British-educated Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck said his future wife, 20-year-old student Jetsun Pema, would be a “great servant to the nation”. Wangchuck is widely revered in the country of some … Continue reading Bhutanese royal wedding to be held in October 2011<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11,16],"tags":[137,210,222,254,751,1225],"class_list":["post-1300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monarch","category-news","category-tourism-bhutan","tag-ashi-jesun-pema","tag-bhutan-king","tag-bhutan-visit","tag-bridge-to-bhutan","tag-king-jigme","tag-royal-wedding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bridgetobhutan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}