Key Points

Late Sunday evening, the tradition was broken as the former King himself stated on the occasion of the Dashain (Dussehra) festival, the biggest festival for Nepal's Hindu population, that he will now be known as the 'former His Majesty the King'.

In the statement issued from the Nirmal Niwas, the residence of the former King, Shah called for timely reforms in the state system while respecting the sentiments of the people.

Given that a new apolitical government has been formed in the country following the Gen-Z protests on September 8 and 9, the former monarch stressed that the aspirations and desires of the new generation must be embraced by the governance system.

Many are wondering why the former monarch, who was ousted from the palace in 2008, continued to refer to himself as 'His Majesty the King' for 17 years and suddenly began to call himself an ex-King from Sunday evening.

Nepal's first constituent assembly, formed after the 2006 uprising against the then King's rule, had voted to abolish monarchy in May 2008.

Rajan Karki, one of the aides of the former King, stated that the Secretariat of the former King had previously agreed with the police not to call him as 'Shree Panch Maharajadhiraj' (His Majesty the King).

In July, the local police had interrogated Phanindra Pathak, Communication Secretary of former King Shah, questioning why Pathak used the title 'Shree Panch Maharajadhiraj' which is not recognised by Nepal's Constitution, and referred to the office as a 'communication secretariat' which is also not recognised by the Constitution.

"Only after Pathak signed a written promise that he would no longer use the word 'Shree Panch Maharajadhiraj' while describing the former King, and the new statement has been issued in line with the same promises," he told IANS. "It is the signal that the (Ex) King is ready to honour the country's laws and rules."

He said that earlier, the former King was treated as 'His Majesty the King' by following the "international tradition" of describing the former monarch as the King.

When asked about the statement, Pathak, however, wished not to speak on the new statement issued by the former King.

Many are wondering if a sudden change in the letterhead of the statement that addressed Shah as the former King has anything to do with the recent political change in the country.

Some groups were demanding that the monarchy be restored following the 'failure' of the major political parties to lead the country to the direction of prosperity following the abolition of the monarchy.

But the recent political crisis in Nepal didn't result in the restoration of the monarchy, which some had wished for.

Karki, however, said that the idea of restoring the monarchy was in fact, floated during the discussion held at the President's office involving the political parties, too, to address the demands of Gen-Z protestors.

"A message was sent to the (former) King, but he responded saying that he is ready to consider the offer if all the political parties first issue a statement calling for the restoration of the monarchy," Karki said.

In an article with the weekly newspaper 'Janaastha', former Prime Minister and Chairperson of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist), Madhav Kumar Nepal, also hinted about the talks regarding the restoration of monarchy.

"There was widespread talk to bring back the King by forcing the president to resign. As I came to know, there had indeed been some discussion with former King Gyanendra Shah regarding it, but the response was that he was not ready to return unless the political parties agreed."

- IANS