Bhutan’s love-struck young king danced in public, joked with subjects and to the delight of thousands of onlookers kissed his new queen on Saturday at the end of three days of wedding celebrations.
Thousands packed the capital’s sports stadium to see King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, a hugely popular 31-year-old Oxford University graduate, and his newly crowned queen, Jetsun Pema.
A rich cultural programme showcasing traditional Bhutanese dancing and music ran from morning to the late afternoon, but the royal couple themselves were the main spectacle for the crowds who filled every inch of space.
The king, standing in the middle of the sports field, drew applause when he kissed Pema in public for the first time.
And later he sparked guffaws of laughter as he joined a group dance routine, occasionally seeming hesitant about the moves. “We know that they love each other so much,” said high-school student Rinzin Dema who was in the crowd. “Seeing our king and the queen, it’s like an inspiration to us that in the future we should be the same husband and wife like that.” Wangchuck crowned 21-year-old Pema on Thursday at the end of a series of elaborate rituals in a 17th-century fortified monastery in Punakha that served as the headquarters of the country’s ancient capital.
The “Dragon King”, who was crowned in 2008 at the start of democracy in Bhutan, said afterwards that he had waited to get married but was sure he had found “the right person”. Saturday is the last day of public celebrations to mark the occasion. On Friday, the royal couple greeted huge crowds of well-wishers who lined the streets as they returned, largely on foot, from Punakha to their palace in the capital.
