Dragon King marries a commoner as Bhutan wakes to the 21st century

King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck wore a crown adorned with a raven’s head during the sumptuous ceremony in the 17th-century fortress – the Punakha Dzong – as 21-year-old student Jetsun Pema, daughter of an airline pilot, received a crown embroidered with silk.

In a nation of 700,000 people where television was only introduced in 1999, the ceremony was broadcast live. Thousands of people, dressed in traditional coloured robes, stood outside the temple. Some monks chanted, others hit drums, as incense drifted through the morning mist.

The Oxford-educated king, 31, is revered as his inward-looking subjects slowly embrace democracy after his father abdicated in 2006 to introduce parliamentary elections. The monarchy is seen as helping stabilise a fragile democracy wedged between India and China in a conflict-ridden part of the world.

“I am happy. I have been waiting quite some time,” the king said after the ceremony. “She is a wonderful human being, intelligent. She and I share one big thing in common – love and passion for art.”

Horns sounded across the Punakha valley as the bride arrived for the wedding in a procession of singers, relatives and monks led by a white horse, which crossed an ancient footbridge to arrive at the fortress, its entrance flanked by baby elephants. Nomads in ceremonial dress descended from the hills to the fortress, which sits between two rivers.

The king and his father entered a sacred chamber holding the embalmed body of the 17th-century remains of Bhutan’s founder, where they received Buddhist scarves and a chalice of blessed curd representing eternal life.

The king’s father, accompanied by his four wives, handed the blessed scarves to the bride.

“I am a very happy man today,” said Kesang Chopel, 41, a Buddhist monk who watched the couple’s arrival in Bhutan’s former ancient capital. “There is the king, and there are so many masters here, lamas. There is a special feeling.”

Posters of the couple adorned almost every building, lamppost and roundabout in the capital, Thimphu, three hours drive away.

Schoolchildren have published poems in the queen’s honour, calling her “the moon, a beautiful heroine and the lotus flower”.

Bhutan, known as the “Land of the Thunder Dragon” has been happy to promote a Shangri-la image with its snow-capped peaks and largely untouched forests. People must still wear the traditional knee-length robes in public.

However, it has been reluctant to open up to the rest of the world. Tourism was only allowed in the 1970s, and when the first car arrived in the 1950s many people thought it was a fire-eating dragon. The capital’s attempts to have traffic lights were thwarted by residents complaining they were unsightly.

Bhutan’s fifth king, affectionately known as K5, has spent months touring Bhutan’s remote villages – often walking among his people holding his bride-to-be by the hand.

The older generation bow and refuse to look their king in the eye, but a younger generation is happy to chat with him. After his wedding, the king caused a brouhaha by walking through the crowd, patting children’s heads and shaking hands.