The King of Nepal (traditionally known as the Mahārājdhirāja i.e. Great King of Kings; it can also be translated as "Sovereign Emperor" ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजधिराज)) was

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...

and

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

from 1768 to 2008. He served as the head of the Nepalese monarchy—

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

Dynasty. The monarchy was abolished on 28 May 2008 by the 1st Constituent Assembly. The subnational monarchies in

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, the ...

, Bajhang, Salyan, and Jajarkot were abolished in October of the same year.

History

The Kingdom of Nepal was founded on 25 September 1768 by

Prithvi Narayan Shah Maharajadhiraj Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723–1775) ( ne, श्री ५ बडामहाराजाधिराज पृथ्वीनारायण शाह देव) was the last ruler of the Gorkha Kingdom and first monarch of the ...

, a Gorkha king who succeeded in unifying the kingdoms of

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

, Patan, and

Bhaktapur , motto = ne, पुर्खले सिर्जेको सम्पत्ती, हाम्रो कला र संस्कृति , lit=Creation of our ancestors, our heritage and culture , image_map ...

into a single state under his Shah dynasty. The Kingdom of Nepal was ''de jure'' an

absolute monarchy Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constituti ...

for most of its history. However, from 1846 until the 1951 revolution, the country was ''de facto'' ruled by the hereditary

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

s from the

Rana dynasty Rana dynasty ( ne, राणा वंश, IAST=Rāṇā vaṃśa , ) is a Chhetri dynasty that imposed totalitarianism in the Kingdom of Nepal from 1846 until 1951, reducing the Shah monarch to a figurehead and making Prime Minister and othe ...

, reducing the role of the Shah monarch to that of a

figurehead In politics, a figurehead is a person who ''de jure'' (in name or by law) appears to hold an important and often supremely powerful title or office, yet ''de facto'' (in reality) exercises little to no actual power. This usually means that they ...

. In November 1990, after the

Jana Andolan The 1990 People's Movement ( ne, २०४६ जनआन्दोलन, 2046 Jana Andolan) was a multiparty movement in Nepal that brought an end to absolute monarchy and the beginning of constitutional monarchy. It also eliminated the Panch ...

movement, a new

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

was adopted and the country became a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

Nepalese Civil War

On 13 February 1996, the

Nepalese Civil War The Nepalese Civil War was a protracted armed conflict that took place in the former Kingdom of Nepal from 1996 to 2006. It saw fighting between the Nepalese royal government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) throughout the country ...

was launched by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), with the aim of overthrowing the kingdom and establishing a "People's Republic".

Nepalese royal massacre

On 1 June 2001, nine members of the royal family, including

King Birendra Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev ( ne, श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज वीरेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाह देव ) (28 December 1945 – 1 June 2001) was the tenth Shah Ruler and the King of N ...

and Queen Aishwarya, were killed in a

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...

at the royal residence. Crown Prince Dipendra was implicated in an official investigation. There is a huge controversy concerning this, as there was no practical investigation on that which proves his involvement. Many Nepali people believe that there might be many other people involved in the massacre. Immediately after the massacre, Dipendra was proclaimed king while in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

, but he died on 4 June 2001, after a three-day reign. His uncle, Prince Gyanendra, was appointed

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

for the three days, then ascended the throne himself after Dipendra died.

Post-massacre

On 1 February 2005, as the security situation deteriorated in the civil war, King Gyanendra staged a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

, declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

, suspended the constitution and assumed direct control over the country. On 24 April 2006, after the

Loktantra Andolan The 2006 Democracy Movement ( ne, text=लोकतन्त्र आन्दोलन, translit=Loktantra Āndolan) is a name given to the political agitations against the direct and undemocratic rule of King Gyanendra of Nepal. The movement ...

movement, the king agreed to give up absolute power and to reinstate the dissolved

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. On 21 November 2006, the civil war was ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord. On 15 January 2007, the King was suspended from exercising his duties by the newly formed interim legislature. Finally, on 28 May 2008, the kingdom was officially abolished by the 1st Constituent Assembly and Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal was declared. The subnational monarchies in

, Bajhang, Salyan, and Jajarkot were also abolished in October 2008.

Note

was the first ruler of "unified" Nepal. However, prior to 1768, the modern-day Nepal consisted of various small kingdoms, among which Shah Kings continued to rule in a few of them (notably in Gorkha). So the actual history of the Shah dynasty dates much before Prithvi Narayan Shah.

Royal Standard & Royal Crown

File:Royal standard of Nepal (circa 1928).svg, Royal Standard of Nepal () File:Royal standard of Nepal (circa 1969).svg, Royal Standard of Nepal () File:Royal standard of Nepal.svg, Royal Standard of Nepal () File:Crown of Kingdom of Nepal "श्रीपेच".jpg, Royal Crown of Nepal, Shreepech

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King Of Nepal Nepal, King * Nepali Monarchs Kingdom of Nepal 2008 disestablishments in Nepal