The new King is not oblivious to that either.

“Two years ago,” he said in his first address to the people, “at a time of profound change I came onto the throne as a young king. In these two short years, while we have taken gigantic steps towards strengthening our nation, we have done so in a calm, deliberate manner, in complete harmony.”

The new king appears grounded enough to deal with the challenges of his new job. The day he received the sacred scarves of the king at a ceremony in Punakha, he trekked a distance of nearly five kilometres on his way back from Simtokha dzong to the Royal Cottage, greeting virtually everybody who had lined up on the route. On November 6, the day he was crowned, he continued with the religious ceremonies for almost four hours before making a public appearance. When the crowd got impatient standing in long queues to reach him, he did a bit of crowd control as well, leaving his seat and launching right into the middle of the chaos. Again, in full view of the 25,000-strong spectators at the Changlingmethang stadium on Friday, the King blew kisses when he caught a glimpse of his nine siblings sitting in a special gallery.

He acknowledges the virtues of the reforms agenda that his father, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, launched during his 34 years of rule and said he was committed to taking forward these changes. He emphasised the inner strength of Bhutanese people and talked about the “immense new challenges” and opportunities during these changing times. As a young leader he also demonstrated that he would largely bank on the youth to facilitate the transition to modernity.

... contd.