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'Dragon King' Takes Throne In Tiny Bhutan

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 7, 2008

At exactly 8:31 a.m. local time Thursday, after a two-year wait for the precise moment deemed most favorable by court astrologers for a successful reign, Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, 28, became the fifth king of the small Himalayan nation of Bhutan.

His father, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, 52, placed the Raven Crown on the head of his son, giving him the title of Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King.

Conducted in the Tashichho Dzong, a massive 17th century white-walled fortress, the coronation was an elaborate display of color, mingled with sacred Buddhist rituals. The ceremony, symbolizing the strength of the monarchy, was seen as a deeply reassuring moment for the last independent Himalayan Buddhist kingdom - once one of the most cut-off, tightly controlled places on Earth, but slowly opening up to modernity and the vagaries of democracy.

For a public ceremony later, all parts of the population were represented, from nomadic yak herders who trekked for days from the icy mountains of northern Bhutan to members of the Hindu minority from the subtropical south.

The Associated Press

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