Bhutan, a small country sandwiched between China and India, has a beautiful queen. Have you ever seen her and her family?
This week, Queen Jetsun celebrated her 34th birthday. The story of her and her husband King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Whangchuck is a special one. Jetsun Pema and Jigme Khesar met when she was 7 years old and he was 17 years old. He asked her to marry him upon first meeting, as the story went around the time of their wedding. The bride and groom knew each other for 14 years when they got married at the ages of 21 and 31. Jigme had already been king for 5 years.
Although the current king’s father has no fewer than four wives, King Jigme Khesar has indicated that he will never marry another woman. Polygamy is allowed in Bhutan. The father of the current king, quite bizarrely, married four sisters. King Jigme Khesar has many brothers and sisters; his father had children with each woman.
The country Bhutan is slightly larger in area than the Netherlands, but has between 700,000 and 800,000 inhabitants.
The royal couple of Bhutan have three children together. On April 16, 2016, they had their first child, son Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck. At birth he is immediately heir to the throne, because his father is already king.
Brother Jigme Ugyen Wangchuck will follow in 2020.
Their third child, daughter Sonam Yangden Wangchuck, was born last September.
The clothing in Bhutan is of course not comparable to the clothing in Western countries. Yet Queen Jetsun wears some Western clothing when she is abroad. In Bhutan itself it is mandatory to wear traditional clothing during the day. The government prescribes how you should dress. The men wear a ‘gho’, which is a knee-length cloak. The women wear a ‘kira’, an ankle-length dress with a short coat over it.
