(Image source: Telegraph)
BY EMOKE BEBIAK
ANCHOR LAUREN GORES
You're watching multisource video news analysis from Newsy.
2011 has been the year of fairytale-like royal weddings. After the UK and Monaco, the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan celebrated the wedding of its young king.
“Bhutan is the last monarchy standing in the Himalayas, a country of just 700,000 souls, most of whom are rejoicing following the marriage of the popular 31-year-old king to a 21-year-old commoner.”
King Jigme, who was educated in Oxford and later in the U.S., married girlfriend Jetsun Pema, a London-educated commoner, whose father is an airline pilot.
A reporter for ABC News explains the key moment of the ceremony...
“This is when the king crowned his queen. You can see, he touches her face quite delicately, quite lovingly and then smiles. That is about as much affection as you’re gonna see during this ceremony in this modest nation. There is no kissing, no ring in this ceremony like this...”
The Christian Science Monitor also points out the wedding was intimate and traditional...
“The ceremony, which took place in Bhutan’s holiest temple, included ceremonial trumpets, drums, singers, and, of course, baby elephants wearing traditional robes... No international celebrities or foreign royals were in attendance, as King Jigme wanted to keep it ‘a simple family affair.’”
While polygamy is allowed for Bhutanese royalty, King Jigme is expected to have only one wife. The Washington Post writes he told reporters after the ceremony...
“I have been waiting for quite some time to get married. But it doesn’t matter when you get married as long as it is to the right person. I am certain I am married to the right person.”
The wedding is a huge national event in Bhutan with celebrations lasting for three days. The Wall Street Journal explains the ceremony was a landmark for the small nation’s media, as well.
“Bhutan has had a TV station only since 1999 and the royal wedding marked the second ‘mega-event’ in the station’s history. The first was the king’s coronation in November 2008.”
Bhutan is famous for being the only country where policymakers measure success in Gross National Happiness instead of economic growth. Commentators say the wedding most certainly raised the country’s happiness level.
Transcript by Newsy
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