Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev

Birendra succeeded to the throne on 31 January 1972 on the death of his father. On his ascension he was effectively an absolute monarch as he inherited a country where political parties were banned and he ruled through a system of local and regional councils known as panchayats. Birendra resented the absolute monarch tag maintaining that he presided over a democracy in which representatives to the assembly were indirectly elected and saying that his poor and backward country could not afford a democracy based on party politics and that it needed firm and decisive government.His first trips abroad as king were to India in October 1973 and China two months later as he believed that Nepal, sandwiched between the two Asian powers, should have good relations with both.



In an attempt to maintain the panchayat system of government prominent leaders of the Nepali Congress Party were arrested. Because of the growing pro democracy movement Birendra announced that a referendum to decide between a non-party and a multi-party system would be held. The referendum was held in May 1980 with the non-party system winning by a margin of 55% to 45%. During the 1980s the restraints that had been imposed on political organisations were starting to ease and liberal student-led groups were starting to appear demanding constitutional change in Nepal. He was made a British Field Marshal in 1980.
In 1990 a series of strikes and pro-democracy riots broke out in Nepal. Because of the rioting Birendra agreed to become a constitutional monarch. He appointed an independent Constitution Recommendation Commission to represent the main opposition factions and to prepare a new constitution to accommodate their demands for political reform. The commission presented him with the draft of the proposed constitution on 10 September 1990. The new constitution would make Birendra head of state of a constitutional monarchy with a system of multiparty democracy. The draft constitution was approved by the Prime Minister K.P. Bhattarai and his cabinet and so on 9 November 1990 Birendra promulgated the new constitution transforming Nepal into a constitutional monarchy.
However, the quarrels between various political parties and numerous social problems led to the Nepalese Civil War, a conflict between Maoist rebels and government forces, which lasted from 1996 until 2006.
Nepal's stability was threatened even more when Birendra and his family (including Queen Aiswarya) were massacred at a royal dinner on 1 June 2001.
Almost all of the Royal family members were killed in the massacre except Gyanendra Shah (Former King and younger brother of King Birendra). Dipendra was proclaimed king but died a few days later of self-inflicted gunshot wounds sustained in the massacre. Birendra's brother, Gyanendra, then became King.
Eyewitness reports and an official investigation (carried by a two-man committee made up of the Chief of the Supreme Court Keshav Prasad Upadhaya and the speaker of the House of Representatives Taranath Ranabhat),[9] confirmed that Dipendra was the gunman. A detailed investigation is impossible as the "Tribhuvan Sadan" (the building where the massacre occurred) was demolished by the Gyanendra regime.