THIMPHU, Bhutan— Bhutan’s “Dragon King,” its charming, American- and British-educated and immensely popular monarch , will marry his longtime girlfriend Thursday, kicking off three days of celebration in this tiny Himalayan land that is slowly but steadily emerging into the modern world. The 31-year-old Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, an Oxford graduate and fan of basketball and Elvis, will wed his girlfriend of three years, the photogenic but unassuming 21-year-old Jetsun Pema, in a small, private ceremony replete with Buddhist spirituality and medieval tradition, in an ancient monastic fortress in the country’s old capital Punakha. Read full article > >

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Wedding of Bhutan’s beloved young king seen as another step toward modernization