BHUTAN: Coronation of a new king

While many Americans were celebrating a change of government in the U.S., people in Bhutan were observing the change of an era.

Nestled amid the Himalayas, the isolated kingdom of Bhutan celebrated the coronation of its new monarch Thursday. The Oxford-educated, 28-year-old Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck was put into the throne by his father Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who ruled the country for more than three decades.

The young monarch, who is the fifth king of Bhutan, was crowned at the Chamber of the Golder Throne in the Fort-Monastery in the capital, Thimpu.

From The Times of India:

The palace was packed with hundreds of foreign dignitaries, including India's President Pratibha Patil, ruling party leader Sonia Gandhi and Bollywood stars. It was also surrounded by lines of jubilant locals dressed in their national costumes.

The new king has pledged to maintain his father's unique philosophy of improving "Gross National Happiness," and not common economic indicators, to ensure well-being in the "Land of the Thunder Dragon."

Watch the video on BBC.

The transition in the country's leadership might bring new changes to the country where people lived secluded lives from the outside world. Bhutan had no roads or currency until the 1960s and hadn't been connected to the Internet and TV until 1999.

Bhutan held its first national election in March to join the league as the world's newest democracy.

The country has been in the news due to the Bhutanese refugees issue. According to UNHCR's "The State of the World's Refugees 2006," approximately 103,000 Bhutanese Lhotshampas--descendents of Nepalese who moved to the southern lowlands of Bhutan in the nineteenth century--have been confined to several refugee camps in south-eastern Nepal since 1990. They has been forced to leave the country by the former monarch in the early 1990s during a campaign to impose compulsory national dress and ban the Nepalese language.

For the past 17 years, the refugees have made Nepal home. But now, they are being resettled in Australia, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand and Denmark. These countries have agreed on resettling 10,000 refugees. The U.S. has agreed to give shelter to 60,000 Bhutanese refugees. According to CNN, the first batch of 121 refugees landed here in March, who were sent to different states for resettlement.

Read about the ceremony at FOXnews.com

Post your comments below.