The isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan crowned a 28-year-old Oxford-educated bachelor as its new King yesterday, six months after reluctantly transforming itself from an absolute monarchy into the world’s newest democracy.

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck became the world’s youngest reigning monarch when he was handed the Raven Crown by his father, the former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in an elaborate ceremony in Thimphu, the capital. The former King, who is 52, abdicated two years ago as part of a plan to reform the hermit-like Buddhist nation of 635,000 people, which had no roads until the 1960s and allowed television only in 1999.

The “Land of the Thunder Dragon” held its first democratic elections in March in an effort to avoid the kind of political trauma that led to the abolition of the world’s last Hindu monarchy in nearby Nepal this year. Court astrologers told the Wangchuk dynasty, which has ruled Bhutan for a century, that it had to wait until yesterday for an auspicious date for the coronation of the fifth Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King.

Officials say that the astrologers deemed 2007 a “black year”, but others suggest that the royal family simply wanted to wait until Bhutan’s first two-lane highway, from the airport to the capital, was completed.

Hundreds of foreign guests, including Sonia Gandhi, the head of India’s Congress Party, attended the day-long ceremony in the golden throne room of Tashichho Dzong, a white-walled, 17th-century fortress. Also present were the former King’s four wives, who are sisters.

Jigme Khesar is the oldest son of the former King and his third wife, and was educated at private school in the United States and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he studied political science and diplomacy.

The ceremony began at dawn, when three giant tapestries were unveiled, each depicting Buddha and the gurus who took his religion to Bhutan. At 8.31am — exactly — Jigme Khesar received a satin and silk crown, topped with an embroidered raven’s head, from his father before taking his seat on a golden throne.

Thousands of Bhutanese have flocked to Thimphu, among them nomadic yak herders. “We have walked for more than a week to come to the celebrations,” said Dema, 32, a woman herder. “The King is like our father.”

Most Bhutanese credit the Wangchuck kings with ensuring the survival of their nation and its culture. The former King is also credited with inventing the concept of Gross National Happiness, which seeks to balance material progress with spiritual wellbeing. “We have enjoyed progress, sustained peace, security and growth,” Jigme Thinley, Bhutan’s new Prime Minister, said. “These are all attributed to the great kings, benevolent kings, selfless kings, that Bhutan has had.”

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