Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah - June 2-4, 2001
In 1990, Nepalese demonstrated for democracy, and King Birendra agreed to transform Nepal into a constitutional monarchy. His son, Crown Prince Dipendra, was studying in England then. He was said to have had a temper tantrum and broken a door when he heard that his future role as king would now be a diminished one. He was kind of a dual character. Outside, he was very much gentle, very much liked by everyone. But inside, from the beginning, he had a sadistic nature.
Although democratic reforms in 1990 sharply diminished the monarchy’s power, King Birendra was widely respected as a stabilizing in?uence amid corrupt political leaders, a growing Maoist insurgency, and widespread poverty.
Mary Kay Magistad reported "He'd met Devyani Rana in England, and wanted to marry her. His parents didn't approve. Rana's mother was from an Indian royal family that was considered of a slightly lower caste than Nepali royalty. And her father was a politician, from a rival clan to the King's. The Crown Prince was reportedly told that he had to make a choice. He could marry Rana, but he'd have to give up his right to the throne."
On June 1, 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra reportedly shot and killed his father King Birendra, his mother Queen Aishwarya, his brother, his sister, his father's younger brother Prince Dhirendra, and several aunts before turning the gun on himself. Press reports that a family dispute over Dipendra’s mamage plans triggered the incident, but the royal family called the shootings accidental.
The prince was reportedly full of drunken anger with his parents, who disapproved of his choice of fiancee. Crown Prince Paras, who was close to the late Crown Prince Dipendra, was present at the family gathering at which nine members of the royal family, including the King and Queen, were killed and several others injured. Paras was not himself injured. After his death 2 days later, the late King's surviving brother Gyanendra was proclaimed King. Nepal's royals kept a low profile following the June 1, 2001 royal family massacre.
After the June 1 incident the palace's Aide-de-Camp (ADC) system was revamped. ADCs rotated among members of the royal family, so that no single ADC develops too close a relationship with any single individual. Several ADCs were faulted - and disciplined - both for failing to prevent the June 1 massacre and for enabling late Crown Prince Dipendra's destructive behavior.
Gyanendra had encouraged the King to use extraconstitutional means, such as a military coup, to reassert his leadership in light of the government’s failure to contain the Maoist insurgency or to ease -— Before the introduction of democratic reforms, Gyanendra opposed his brother’s efforts to liberalize Nepal’s political system.
King Birendra had always insisted that the issue with the Maoist was a political matter, which needed to be solved through political, not military means. However, after Birendra’s assassination, his brother, Gyanendra decided to use the Royal Nepalese Army to go after the Maoists.
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