Bhutan’s bachelor king to wed a commoner

The remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is set to stage its own royal wedding, with the Oxford-educated bachelor monarch, 31, announcing his engagement to a commoner on Friday.

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck will marry 20-year-old Jetsun Pema, a student from the capital Thimphu, in October, Agence France-Presse reports.

"As king, it is now time for me to marry. After much thought I have decided that the wedding shall be later this year," he said, according to a copy of the speech sent to AFP. 

"People might think that my queen should be highly educated, beautiful and best of the best," PTI reported him as saying. "Jetsun Pema is a kind-hearted girl who is very supportive and whom I can trust. I don't know what my people will say about her, but I find her complete with all the qualities a woman needs to have."

The king has known Pema "for quite some time," he said, adding that she had already begun to accompany him on trips around the country. She appeared in traditional Bhutanese dress in a joint picture released of the couple.

The wedding takes place less than a month after Britain's Prince William married Kate Middleton in London, becoming the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

And in July, Prince Albert II of Monaco plans to marry his fiancee Charlene Wittstock, a swimming champion.

Wangchuck, who helped usher in democracy in the Buddhist nation after being crowned king in 2008 following the abdication of his father Jigme Singye Wangchuck, is apparently planning a more modest wedding.

"There will be a celebration, but His Majesty has requested that the government not make big plans and big celebrations," Dorji Wangchuck told AFP by telephone from Thimphu. "It is because of the lack of resources [in Bhutan] and secondly to make the celebrations more intimate and personal."