Bhutan is a small country built on the Himalayas, which, although bordering the mainland, is unknown because of its sparse population.
It wasn't until the fairy tale of the fifth king, Kesar, and his queen, that people noticed this idyllic country.
Wherever there is royal power in this world, there will inevitably be a struggle for power, even in a small country like Bhutan.
The current king's father, Emperor Singh of Bhutan, had such a difficult experience.
01 Unpopular childhood and prominent in-laws
Emperor Singh of Bhutan was his mother's fifth child, and four sisters had been born before him, so you can imagine how happy the mother was for the arrival of this son, after all, the family really had the throne to inherit.
But Emperor Taishang's father, the third king of Bhutan, soon fell in love with another woman, a Tibetan princess.
Without the king's favor, the life of the Emperor Taishang's family was very difficult, and his childhood was raised in the cold palace with his mother and sisters.
But fate gave the Emperor Taishang a chance to turn around, and his father suffered a heart attack and died at the age of forty-three.
The mother of the Emperor Taishang, who was originally a princess of the Sikkim Kingdom, used the power of her mother's family to help her 16-year-old son ascend to the throne.
However, orphans and widows havetily succeeded to the throne, and the power of the Emperor Taishang was not stable.
He desperately needed strong domestic power to help him stabilize his regime. The most suitable candidate is a prominent family with the reincarnation of a senior monk.
Bhutan is also a country that believes in Tibetan Buddhism, so it is convinced of the system of reincarnation.
The four empresses' families had two reincarnations, one was their father's uncle (Xia Zun Living Buddha) and the other was their great uncle (Tenzin Living Buddha).
In addition, the father of the four sisters is still a famous big businessman in Bhutan, so the degree of prominence can be imagined.
Because the family was too strong, the third king killed the uncles of the four sisters and forced them into exile.
Now that the new king has thrown out the olive branch of marriage, the father of the four sisters is happy to see it succeed and is very willing to resolve the conflict with the royal family.
The big question was which daughter the young king wanted to marry.
The family was prosperous, and the father-in-law of the Emperor Taishang had a total of 6 daughters, except for the youngest daughter, who was only ten years old, and the rest were girls of the right age.
There are rumors that the girl that the Emperor Taishang initially liked rejected him. In order to prevent other concubines from dividing the Yue family, he married the remaining four girls back to the palace together.
02 Beautiful love story, a harem like no other
Of course, the aristocratic class is all about decency, even if it is a political marriage, it must have a beautiful packaging. Therefore, the story of the first encounter between the Emperor Taishang and the four sisters was spread in the folklore.
It was a grand celebration, and the four sisters dressed up and came to the door of Punaka Zonburg, where the celebration was most lively. There was a steep escalator in front of the castle, and they sat on the edge of the escalator to watch the celebration.
At this time, a performer who played the warrior came out of the castle, and he was tripped by his sword, causing a big stir.
The Emperor Taishang, who was in the castle, opened the window to see the fallen people below, but accidentally saw the beautiful scenery by the escalator, four beautiful ladies dressed in costume.
Ten years later, the young man who sat on the throne of the king could not forget the surprise of love at first sight, and specially visited and asked to marry four girls like flowers.
Although they are sisters from a family, the four queens also have their own personalities.
Among them, the eldest sister of the queen, has an independent personality, is very capable, and can often give good advice on political affairs, so it is the most pleasing to the emperor.
Since the Bhutanese royal family adopted the primogeniture system, the Emperor Taishang still hoped that the queen would give birth to an heir.
Contrary to her wishes, the Queen's first child was a princess, and it was not until two years later that she gave birth to a second prince.
The three queens, who gave birth half a month later than the eldest sister, gave birth to the current king, that is, the grand prince at that time.
Fortunately, the four sisters were all from the same family, and for the children's grandfather, it didn't matter who the heir was, so there was no particularly serious fight.
Even if the Emperor Taishang favors the second prince, he can only create a little public opinion in the folk.
However, the current king's reputation in the people has always been very good, and these claims of changing heirs have not caused much of a storm in the people, and the transfer of power has been completed calmly.
The four queens gave birth to a total of five men, five daughters, and ten children for the Emperor Taishang. Except for the younger ones, the other princes and princesses all have study abroad backgrounds and have been working in government agencies since returning home.
03 Hand over power and enjoy life
Emperor Taishang was born in 1955 and has been king for 35 years since he ascended the throne at the age of 16.
During his reign he made many contributions to Bhutan, notably the establishment of a free health care and education system.
In order to increase state revenue, he built Bhutan's first airport and strengthened Bhutan's ties with other countries. It also established that Bhutan's development task was to be self-reliant and not to be controlled by India like Sikkim.
In addition, he was a very close king, and often drove to the whole country by car. In order to understand the people's feelings, he allowed the people to write their own books, and the people who had problems and wanted to reflect them would leave a note on his inevitable path.
Later, neighboring Sikkim was annexed by India, and in order to avoid this, the Emperor took the initiative to modify the political system and exchanged a constitutional monarchy for the stability of the country. It was under him that Bhutan became the country with the highest per capita happiness value.
After clarifying the heir, the Emperor Taishang did not want to continue his ruling career, and in 2006 passed the throne to the Grand Prince, and has lived a life of nurturing since then.
The birth of the grandson made the emperor even happier, and in the family photo, Singer hugged his daughter-in-law and looked at this new life with love with his son, and the family was happy and happy.
Now the Emperor Taishang is in his sixties, but he loves sports and maintains him quite well.
When taking a photo with his eldest son, he was still handsome, not only in a straight posture, with thick hair, but even his eyes were still bright. Obviously, they are two generations of father and son, but they look like brothers, and this may be related to the Emperor Taishang's enthusiasm for sports.
Due to the study in the United Kingdom at the age of 12, influenced by the upper circles of Europe and the United States, the Emperor Taishang developed very good sports habits, not only love basketball and archery, but also especially love mountain biking.
Bhutan is a small country, and many people in the capital have seen the Emperor Taishang riding a bicycle in the suburbs.
Now the third generation of the royal family has been born, and the emperor is playing with his grandchildren in addition to sports and leisure, and his life is very happy.
Compared with the snubbed and difficult childhood, the single and wandering teenager and the period of great changes in the ruling period, now is the happiest and most comfortable day in the life of the Emperor Taishang.
Although Bhutan is a small country, it has a high degree of happiness from the royal family to the commoners, which is really enviable.