Bhutan Wedding

Bhutan Royal Wedding
Source:  EuroNews
Date:  October 13, 2011

2011 is the year of the royal wedding – there was William and Kate, then Zara and England rugby star Mike Tindall.

Today, it was the King of Bhutan (country in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas, bordering India and China ) tying the knot and it was a very different affair.

Bhutan is a small country in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to south, east and west by the Republic of  India and to the north by the People’s Republic of China. In 2006, Business Week magazine rated Bhutan as the happiest country in Asia and the eighth happiest in the world, based on a global survey.

Dignitaries and well-wishers gathered at an ancient monastic fortress to see King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk marry his bride, 21-year-old student Jetsun Pema.

For days before the wedding, monks held dawn prayer sessions in remote mountain valleys.

Such was the popularity of the event, Bhutan’s airline had to add extra flights to deal with the flood of visitors from abroad.

The people of the young democracy between China and India are calling it a “once in a lifetime event.”

Wangchuck is not expected to follow the example of his father, who married four sisters from a wealthy family. Polygamy is allowed in Bhutan, but is rare.