The Magnificent History Of Bhutan's Royal Family | Asia's Monarchies | Real Royalty With Foxy Games

asia's monarchies defy history in a modern era of democracy worlds of tradition mystery and ritual command fascination and respect like never before [Music] monarchies are symbols of continuity living connections to the past that are often loved and loathed in equal measure in bhutan the himalayan kingdom they call the land of the thunder dragon the past is very much alive in the present and this clash has led to the most monumental change in their history it was a profound shock the king gave up absolute power and brought in democracy it was the latest astute political move by the kings of bhutan the wang chuk dynasty to outsiders bhutan seems a buddhist kingdom but inside there lies a different tale the story of wangchuk is one of intrigue power struggles and political genius [Music] bhutan is a tiny country lying in the mountains and valleys of the mighty himalayas a country of extraordinary beauty steep with myth and legend seemingly untouched by the passing of time it is known to the few visitors from the outside world as the last shangri-la and to its people as drukkyun land of the thunder dragon like so much in bhutan its name arrived from an ancient legend almost a thousand years ago a tibetan monk came to bhutan to found a new monastery as he laid the final stone he heard a sound that seemed to him god's blessing on his work a huge roar rushed down the valley like a roar of a dragon a thunder dragon [Music] and perhaps this image of a ferocious creature is a clue to bhutan's survival once the himalayas was covered by a mosaic of small kingdoms just like bhutan one by one they have disappeared now bhutan is the only monarchy left in the region there's a sense in bhutan that there has to be something very steely a kind of bottom line about the nation's survival that can't that has to be ruthless if it needs to be but there can be no compromise on certain things its survival is down to the wang chuks each of the wang chuk kings has faced a crisis during their reign each of them has averted it with a shrewd political move the first king ugian wangchuk founded the new monarchy and united bhutan after years of inviting the second king jigme wangchuk faced down a centuries-old rival to his throne and cemented the wang chuks as undisputed rulers the third king took bhutan into the united nations ensuring its ultimate survival as an independent state the fourth king would prove to be the most far-sighted member of the dynasty ruling bhutan has always been a game of politics and survival and one that the wang chuks play well and these skills are passed down from father to son as though monarchy is a family business and politics their currency the upbringing of the wangchuk kings is the formula for their personal success no one knows better than michael rutland a former english school teacher recruited to come to bhutan as the fourth king's tutor in 1971. these days he's retired in living in bhutan working as the country's envoy to the uk today he's come to visit the school with a former pupil and classmate of the fourth king here we are in the uggian wongchuk academy and this was built in 1970 by the then queen of bhutan as the school for the young crown prince who was then 15. made no difference that one of them was the crown prince of bhutan he blended in totally with all the other pupils i think that time it didn't strike us so it was just like a bunch of 20 people and his majesty i went all the way all out i think to show that there were no differences he was very considerate and very compassionate already and very caring towards us as as a as a friend and as a as a person it's a very good upbringing the kings from very young age the future king have been going with their fathers all the time they are not isolated from their father they are staying with their father and they are looking at how the father their father deal and take decision the fourth king jigme singh wangchuk made a momentous decision that was to change the role of the monarchy forever he willingly stood down from absolute rule and delivered democracy to his people and one that his young son the new king must now oversee [Music] here in timpu the capital and seat of politics these changes are most keenly felt the people see the wang chuks as both wise and benevolent rulers who have safely led the country through many changes small wonder they view democracy with apprehension it was a profound shock i think it's fair to say that in the 12 months following the king's announcement if you had taken a public opinion poll you would have had a 99.9999 vote in favor of maintaining rule by the kings feelings remain that the kings of bhutan can never be replaced by politicians to be friends i don't like democracies i like under monarchs democracy i've seen in many countries especially our neighboring uh countries like india there are so many troubles going on we are with one nation one people we love our king very much uh we consider him as the second buddha there are two things that unite the people of bhutan their reverence for the kings and their devotion to buddhism the religious values of buddhism are everywhere to be seen from prayer flags to spiritual monuments i think the putin is way of life it's very difficult to really uh separate bhutanese culture from from buddhism everything in life that bhutanese believe and bhutanese do as a way of life is very much influenced by you know buddhist principles and way of thinking today there is a total solar eclipse which happens here only once every 370 years this makes it a very auspicious day religion and superstition are brought to the forefront [Music] spiritual rituals are held toward of the evil spirits that the bhutanese believe are eating the sun and of course prayers are said for the royal family nearby in the house of the village elder butter lamps are lit as they are every morning and with special care today [Music] a whole room half the upper floor is set aside as a shrine common in nearly all bhutanese homes and right next door in equal prominence is a room dedicated to the kings and this is not by chance the wang chuks were quick to cloak themselves in a national religion recognizing the power of uniting the concepts of god with the crown the indelible link between religion and the monarchy was a key part in bhutan's history and the story of the kings but the image of a wise and brilliant dynasty handing out blessings to the people is only part of the picture like every monarchy there is a dark side their rise to power was at the cost of others for they were not the only rulers to have walked these valleys bhutan was once home to priest kings tibetan princes and exiled monks to understand the wang chuk's rise to power you have to understand the history behind them [Music] bhutan's royal family is a riddle the roots of power in this perplexing and mysterious land runs deep bhutan's monarchy is barely a century old but they owe their position to a history of former rulers and foreign influences that stretches back over a thousand years bhutan's geographical position has played a huge role in its history it has dwarfed between india to the south and china and tibet to the north it was exiles and refugees from these neighbors who were to introduce new ideas that would shape bhutan's future [Music] one of the first and most important of these foreign visitors was a buddhist tantric master known as guru rinpoche who arrived from india in 7478e legend has it that he flew into bhutan on the back of a tiger he came here and brought buddhism to bhutan for the first time and so a very significant character you the image you see of him there you can recognize that it's guru rinpoche first of all because of the headgear secondly the little mustache and thirdly in his right hand he carries a doji or a thunderbolt and in his left hand a staff with three skulls on guru rinpoche established mahayana buddhism as the dominant religion of bhutan it's been at the heart of the nation throughout its history rinpoche is referred to as the second buddha in bhutan [Music] 800 years later another foreign refugee was to flee to bhutan in 1616 a lama naoang namgao arrived in bhutan seeking refuge from the political crisis in tibet he went on to become the spiritual leader of bhutan after a series of victories over rival subsect leaders he took on the title of shapdrong meaning at whose feet one submits the shabdung may have been a monk but he had definite political plans for bhutan plans that would directly lead to the rise of the wang chuk kings well the the shadrings the original namgael was obviously a pretty charismatic guy came down as a refugee from from tibet established his rule this this struck bakargyu sect of tibetan buddhism uh built these huge fort monasteries in each of the major valleys that zongs that you can still see today so established an infrastructure and a system of government that that worked for the for the country tongs vast fortified monasteries placed at strategic points throughout the country by the chapron it provided islands of security in a land under constant threat from its neighbors on all sides although the chapron oversaw the network of songs across the country it was the panlop or lord of the jung who controlled it as both a military and economic headquarters and one song in particular was to become increasingly powerful in later years setting the stage for the rise of the wang chuks who were destined to become lords of this powerful fortress this zong of trungser is one of the most impressive zongs in bhutan it was built in 1650 in the time of the shadrun and it was the means by which the whole of the east of bhutan was brought under the shabdong's control not only were these zhang's politically important they were money spinners as well each was placed at the head of a vital trade route and where there is trade there is taxation this great powerful river the mangdichu is in a way a key to the economic power of this zong because there was any one bridge across that river and you had to cross the one bridge and then walk up a path which inevitably led you into one door of the dong so there was no way you could get by or slip through secretly and of course it meant that you had to pay your taxes there was no way around the taxation so this made this zong immensely powerful and rich and it was the power of these chong lords that would soon become a threat to the shadrach's rule to maintain the chadron's leadership he needed to establish a line of succession his own dynasty as a buddhist he believed he would be reincarnated again and again and again he would effectively succeed himself it was this buddhist concept that he believed would provide the answer to maintaining his rule however when he died in 1651 his court was left with a major problem finding the reincarnated chap drunk in his new body [Music] his death wasn't wasn't made public for 50 years or whatever because of the fears of the risks of uh conflict over the succession there was a dual system of temporal and spiritual authority but the question of succession became increasingly fractious into the 19th century bhutan was in a condition of almost civil war for many many years the shabdrung's leadership in bhutan continued to weaken in contrast the lords of the tongs would consolidate their own positions growing in power throughout the 19th century but it was the lords of the two greatest chungs who saw their chants the lords of paro in the west and the lords of trunks are in the east the wang chuks it was during this time that the might of the british empire turned its sights on this tiny kingdom at the beginning of the 20th century the british feared a russian threat from the north and wanted to get to tibet to establish an anglo-tibetan alliance organ wong chuk who became the first wong chuk king acted as an aide and an interpreter and a guide to the british as they invaded tibet or as the expeditionary force went into tibet gained the support and the favor of the british was very well thought of by the british the anglo-tibetan convention of 1904 was secured and ogyeon wangchuk was knighted for his service to the empire this further cemented his power and he was able to put an end to the chadron system of rule he then took control of the civil administration of bhutan in 1907 an assembly of buddhist monks and government officials gathered to establish a new absolute monarchy with uggy and wang chuk as its first hereditary king it is the wisdom of people that they came together in 1907 and they said here is a man who has been tested through his family and through his service his love for the nation and his bravery for protecting the country so the elected he was absolutely i think he was a consumer diplomat yes although he was often barefoot he was a consumer diplomat and in a great gathering at punakar in 1907 the the genja the the decree the contract was was agreed and signed by all the all the local rulers across bhutan so this great trung sazon became the seat of power the focus of power for the beginning of monaco the new king had won his throne by his strength as a political genius but to truly govern his kingdom he needed the devotion of the people the sort of devotion they had for the chadron lineage the spiritual leaders so in one deceptively simple move he united the concept of god in king like his predecessors before him literally by uniting the crown with the ultimate symbol of the shadron's divinity the raven the raven um is a symbol of the the buddhist deity mahakala is supposed to have decided to to leave tibet and move to to bhutan when he saw a raven flying sort of potentially in that particular direction hence the association of the raven with the shabdung with bhutan the wong chuk kings wear a raven crown so there's a there's a coming together of the two lineages which means that the the possibility of a threat arising to the wong chuks from the shelter lineage is minimized by absorbing it symbolically the raven crown provided spiritual legitimacy to its rule but he still had to subdue final rebellions from other song lords again wang chuk spent the next 20 years uniting bhutan until his death in 1926. he was succeeded by his son jigmei wangchuk during his reign bhutan's zhongs were brought under royal control once and for all bhutan was finally at peace for now at least the new king was free to set about winning the hearts and minds of his subjects he did this by building new palaces in the kingdom visiting them regularly to ensure he kept in touch with his people so this is kungarabtan palace which was the winter palace of the second king it was built in 1932 and lived in all the way through until the second king died in 1952. the king would come in grand procession from his main palace hundreds of horses hundreds of servants descending down the hill arriving here in the palace for the winter residence of the king and his queen and the whole village would liven up nebu doji was a young boy when the second king built his winter palace in the village his annual residency was a party that involved the whole village status as absolute rulers and their efforts to appeal to the people did not guarantee the security of the wangchuk dynasty the bhutan royal family suffered from questions of legitimacy during the early years of rule with the reincarnations of the various chadrons posing a threat it would prove the greatest challenge yet to the dragon throne but it would also show just what the wang chicks were capable of when its supremacy was threatened in 1931 the monarchy of bhutan had been ruling for just 24 years but they were not the only group with an appetite for power in the dragon kingdom jigme wangchuk had been on the throne for just five years when the threat of the reincarnated shabdrung re-emerged jigme doji the sixth chadron challenged the wang chuk's right to rule there was an appeal made to mahatma gandhi in india by the by the the then chadron and his supporters to reinstate him to his former position but in 1931 the upshot of this was that the shah during was quietly done away with um the popular story has it using silk scarves and this is actually recounted this was always something that the bhutanese sort of knew about but didn't speak of very much or other kind of dark secret in the country's history but it has actually been written about now by one of the queens in her biography of her father it was a bold act they dealt with the challenge decisively in true wang chuk fashion and for the next two decades the second king ruled peacefully in 1952 he died and his son jigme dorji wangchuk ascended to the dragon throne like his father and grandfather before him the third king was to face a huge crisis that threatened his throne when china took over tibet in 1951 communism was at bhutan's door to the bhutanese who worked on land they didn't own and had no rights to communism seemed an attractive idea the third king acted swiftly he sided with his powerful neighbors to the south and at home he initiated a series of reforms the king started reforms on a grand scale he did the land reform which was a huge thing he took the land from the monk body who was very which was very rich and then he redistributed also the land of the monk body that was i mean agrarian reform is one of the boldest move you can make the alliance with india provided support for bhutan's planned economic development modern infrastructure like roads communication systems were built mostly funded by india and in 1966 the third king made tempu the capital city of bhutan so the third king who was ruling at the time is is still seen universally as a very enlightened and far-sighted ruler who was perhaps ahead of demands for change in his own country the third king's modernization program helped prevent any plans china may have had to continue its expansion beyond the himalayan ground once again the king of bhutan had secured his country's independence in 1971 bhutan was admitted to the united nations the un membership further strengthened its sovereign status that was a seal which guaranteed the independence of bhutan but he didn't just stop there as bhutan connect became connected with the outside world bhutan would have to change inside as well he instituted the national assembly he realized that people needed to be involved more in their own government that was the very first step towards the constitutional democracy during jigme doji wangchuk's 20-year reign bhutan achieved significant progress the third king was affectionately known as the father of modern bhutan he died young at age 49. it put his son jigmei singh wangchuk on the dragon throne in 1972 at the age of just 17. i mean you imagine he was 17. he was a kid playing football and suddenly he's a king and from the start the fourth king had been completely committed and his people and to help bhutan to change and modernize without giving up the uniqueness of the tradition and what makes bhutan bhutan hit the world headlines in 1972 when the fourth king introduced an unusual national policy the country's wealth was not to be measured in money but in gross national happiness gross national happiness is now part of bhutan's brand political leaders who want to appear radical come to bhutan hoping that some of the political magic will rub off on them economists and planners the world over have attempted to formalize and measure gross national happiness and applied outside bhutan it's a mantra that is as much mocked as it is worshiped the town's politicians have to fight hard to keep it meaningful and relevant to the country's progress we interpret happiness as not as pleasure as it is widely interpreted but as a much more profound sense of contentment which lies inside that's where you look inside if you accept that gross national happiness therefore becomes a responsibility of the government or a mandate of the state to create an environment where citizens can pursue happiness that's in essence cross national happiness mathan had successfully sold an image of itself to the outside world as a buddhist eden the land of happiness but inside it was facing an identity crisis about what it meant to be bhutanese bhutan is a ethnically very mixed country there are three main ethnic groups and lots of minor ones no one group has an absolute majority in in terms of their their numbers the ngalong are the people of the north and west of the country from which the king comes and most of the ruling class the population along the southern border of the country is mainly of nepali origin and are relatively recent immigrants probably came to the country between 1865 and 1930 this ethnic mix had not been seen as a problem until a large population of nepalese speakers from the south started to gain influence throughout bhutanese society in 1991 the king and his ministers immediately moved to try to preserve the specific culture and identity of bhutan and suddenly almost very quickly over a number about a year a whole lot of legislation came in about marriage citizenship land ownership and then the wearing of bhutanese national costume in official places even today school children wear the national dress for men it is the go it goes back centuries as the formal attire of the dragon court bhutan's drukpa heritage is part of its national identity reinforced by the monarchy and the upper crust of bhutanese society i think it was very very important that his majesty the fourth king did this to inculcate into our youth and our future generations that hey we can't lose our culture to a gene culture we must be bhutanese first foremost irrespective of what part of the country you come from we must all now think to be bhutanese to maintain your culture respect your culture your religion your elders respect for elders but teachers these are bhutanese buddhist values i think those are the value systems which keep us going despite all these measures it was still felt that the purity of bhutanese culture and identity was under threat their answer was to hold the census it defined how bhutanese you were if you weren't bhutanese enough you had to leave 19 in 1988 the the government of bhutan conducted a census across the whole of the south and a large number of people who had considered themselves to be full citizens with citizenship cards and so on became less secure in their minds about their right to remain in bhutan and these directly targeted the nepalese speakers in the south when this political tension erupted large numbers of them were afraid either because a member of their family had been arrested and they didn't know where they were or because they were being harassed by security forces from the bhutanese government who was telling them leave the country and also because they were coming under severe pressure from their own kind to take part in demonstrations and activities against the bruce news government and were being coerced with threats and you know with violence from there so people were caught in the middle in the three years after the census the southern nepalese began to flee to refugee camps in nepal 1991 1992 at the peak of this migration around 600 people a day arrived in refugee camps in in nepal they brought with them their tales of torture rape and violence by the bhutanese authorities at first the international community gave little credence to these horror stories they could not believe that bhutan the last shangri-la was capable of such violence however the sheer number of refugees involved meant the evidence was compelling one-sixth of the population had been forced out of the country and into these camps the world could no longer ignore these human rights abuses the potential consequences for the dragon throne couldn't have been more serious how was the king going to deflect this outrage and regain the support of the international community that his tiny kingdom relied on like his forefathers before him he faced a grave crisis and like them he played a political masterstroke [Music] the himalayan kingdom of bhutan counts itself blessed its people have enjoyed an unprecedented century of peace and stability and they thank their monarchs the five kings for wise and clear-minded rule bhutan's guiding economic philosophy is world famous it's called gross national happiness and it puts an emphasis on the buddhist principles of finding contentment without material pleasure but the kingdom of thunder dragon has found itself buffeted by many challenges in its 400 year history threats from its giant neighbors and internal division being just a few [Music] in the last decades of the 20th century it wasn't war or religion that shook bhutan but ethnic politics and global opinion the enforced removal of the nepali speaking population had shocked the world the king faced international condemnation it also shone the spotlight on bhutan's system of royal rule every day he sat on the throne as an absolute monarch the bhutan brand was being further damaged but in typical wang-chuk fashion he had a plan [Applause] in the background he'd been slowly modernizing bhutan's political system he would change the monarchy from absolute rulers to a constitutional monarchy and so bring democracy to his people it's another example of the wong chuk kings being very shrewd seeing the way the wind is blowing and taking a step perhaps ahead of being forced to do so throughout the 1990s he strengthened the powers of the democratic organizations and in 1998 even gave the cabinet the power to sack him strangely the greatest obstacle to the introduction of democracy was the people themselves discussions really boiled down to people saying please no we asked two very important questions why and the king's own answer really was that you know this small vulnerable country should not be left in the hands of one man one person who is chosen by birth not by merit there can't be many places where the king has encouraged almost you might say forced but encouraged the people to accept democracy and to take power away from him and there can be even fewer countries where the king or the rulers actually travelled the country explaining all this to the people in order to give them time to get used to the concept in many countries in south asia and other parts of the world i think interpret democracy as uh just electoral democracy you know the facade without the culture of democracy and this and is synonymous with uh political violence with uh political corruption so the people are saying why you know i mean it was a genuine response really saying why do we want that things are going well bhutan was in shock in the space of a year a draft constitution had been published promising freedom of thought and speech creating a multi-party democracy and even a mandatory retirement age for the king 65. came as a terrible shock to the people it was as if father had let go of the hand of the child and the child was not sure which way to move it was a profound shock but there were more shocks to come in 2005 just six months after the constitution had been published the fourth king made another announcement in uh 2005 when during the national day celebrations in december the king gave his national day speech and said that he would be stepping down and the crown prince would be made king i mean it was hard for us to believe believe that you know believe such a such a moment you know to me when i think about it it's like the father had achieved his destiny and the son was beginning his within the space of a couple of years the fourth king had brought in a new constitution set in motion the first ever elections and stepped down from his throne it seemed his legacy to his son jikme kesar nam wang chuk was a new bhutan for a new era and as the former king placed the raven crown on his son's head the whole country looked to the future it's very special it's first of all hundred years of manaki and the first coordination in my life actually that's why it's very special the first time in my life i'm seeing a king being crowned it's really wonderful to see a king or a leader so in touch with their people and so caring about their their people well the king will always be special to us no matter whether the you know the government changes into a democracy or it's a uh monarchy the king will always be special to britain's people why because we love the king that's the simple answer i can give politically it is a young country with a young king at its helm only 28 years old the fifth king faces a whole new set of challenges bhutan is taking its first steps towards embracing the 21st century the first was to oversee the inaugural elections in bhutan with a population that approached democracy with suspicion people are bit apprehensive because we have seen ourselves that you know democracy of course is not the best form of government you know it is just basically i think broadens your choice of governance you know but it doesn't necessarily guarantee prosperity it doesn't necessarily guarantee you know happiness it's a democracy in the sense that people vote it's not a full democracy in the sense that when they vote they can only really vote for two parties and when we look at the the leadership of the parties they're clearly people still who are close to the royal family and the palace so the dirty business of politics is left to others the introduction of the democratic system was carefully managed by the fourth king in order to maintain the revered status of the monarchy and the relevance of the king's position in today's world i think in terms of providing emotional and psychological security to the people in times when even bhutanese democracy may go through upheavals i think the king will play a very important role as he does even now but at the same time he the king does not interfere in the the direct governance of the country but he is there he will always be there a presence that will also ensure that those who are in power conduct themselves well in the larger interest of the people i think he will always be the most powerful moral ethical force in the country it is one thing to love your country jigme kesar nam wangchuk has huge shoes to fill and an extraordinary legacy to live up to now we've worked very hard and today we can proudly say that the system that we built the unique and profound constitution that we've drafted are as strong and as sound as possible we are off to a very good start our democracy it is a time of transition for the monarchy its future will very much depend on the young and untested king the ideals i think the essence of bhutanese monarchy itself will not change because it's the relationship between the king and the people you know the king bestows his kindness on the people people submit their loyalty to the king and that is what we call the bhutanese system what has happened here is that simultaneously at the same time the king is not head of government meaning he doesn't do the day-to-day planning of roads schools hospitals and he's actually brought in a system you know called the democratic government you know system including parliament and the judiciary and all that to actually perform that part of uh you know governance and whereas the king is there still very much there in touch with the people so the king's strength actually still comes from the will of the people love of the people in village bhutan where most of the population lives the earthquake of democracy has made little impact life goes on as usual and the consensus is that if the king wants democracy then who are the people to argue and in the temples around bhutan the monks go about their daily business much as before administering to the spiritual needs of the people and timpus increasingly affluent and educated middle classes still enjoy a day out at the shrines and temples on the city's outskirts bhutan's culture is a village culture and its monarchy is part of the everyday life of the village i think one thing to appreciate this is quite a small country with quite a small population it's almost true to say everybody knows everybody else now this makes it a family and i think if one lives here or stays a long time here you become acutely aware of how much a family it is well now as king your father you have a duty to the people rather like the duty of a father to his children and because it's a small country with a very family atmosphere that sort of familial duty is very much reinforced the close ties between the royal family and the people can be seen in the sports they play the sport of kings artery is practiced by bhutanese subjects with the same enthusiasm as their ruler village culture buddhist faith deference for the king for now these values still hold sway over the people the impact of the modern world through tourists television and the internet will surely change bhutan in some ways but how it has changed is up to the people themselves not just the dragon king it's not one man it's the whole country it's the women the family system which will carry the country it will be the the family the unit of the family which will maintain our culture over the last century the wang chuk dynasty has been ahead of their people leading them forwards leaders see the present great leaders see the future and bhutan has been lucky in that sense and that's why bhutan has survived through the ages for bhutan to continue its survival the new king will have to demonstrate his political acumen and farsightedness much like his predecessors the fifth king will no doubt face both old and new challenges his ability to handle them will contribute to the success of the monarchy i want you to love your country in the most intelligent manner you must always keep in mind that it is one thing to love your country it is quite another to love it intelligently [Music] the future of bhutan's monarchy now rests in the hands of its young king but more importantly it rests in the hands of the bhutanese themselves

Channel: Real Royalty

Views: 289,944

Rating: 4.8755555 out of 5

Keywords: real royalty, real royalty channel, british royalty, royalty around the world, royal history, prince william, kate middleton, princess kate, bhutan royals, bhutan royal family, bhutan royal wedding, bhutan royal family house, bhutan royal palace, bhutan royal family photos, bhutan royal family in japan, bhutan royal family documentary

Id: svf95f4kjDQ

Length: 50min 33sec (3033 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 20 2021