Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (
Nepali:
महेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाह; 11 June 1920 – 31 January 1972) was
King of Nepal from 1955 to 1972.
Mahendra was born 11 June 1920 to King
Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah of Nepal. Although Tribhuvan was nominally king since 1911. Mahendra was captive in
Narayanhity Royal Palace, virtually a gilded cage. In 1940 he married
Indra Rajya Lakshmi Devi,
[5][6] daughter of General Hari Shamsher Rana. They had three sons,
Birendra,
Gyanendra,
Dhirendra and three daughters
Shanti,
Sharada, and
Shobha.
[7] Crown Princess Indra died in 1950. In 1952, Mahendra married Indra's younger sister,
Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Devi. This marriage produced no children. Meanwhile, popular discontent and the British withdrawal from India in 1947 had made Rana rule increasingly untenable. In 1950 the political situation had deteriorated so far that the personal safety of the royals was in doubt. Tribhuvan and most of his family escaped to India. Open revolt ensued and by the end of the year the Ranas agreed to a coalition government under Tribhuvan in which they shared power equally with the
Nepali Congress Party. By the end of the year the Ranas were maneuvered out and Nepal's first experiment with democratic government under
constitutional monarchy was underway. Tribhuvan's health was poor and he died in 1955.
Mahendra succeeded Tribhuvan as King of Nepal. He was crowned on 2 May 1956.
On 15 December 1960, the then King Mahendra suspended the constitution, dissolved the elected parliament,
[11] dismissed the cabinet,
[12] imposed direct rule and imprisoned the then prime minister
Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala and his closest government colleagues.
[13][14] Mahendra instituted a
Panchayat hierarchical system of village, district and national councils,
[15] a variant of
guided democracy. He pursued a foreign policy of neutrality between China and India.
Mahendra suffered a heart attack while hunting in Chitwan with Tiger Tops Hotel proprietor John Coapman, also associated with the CIA at the time,[20] who reported in 1977 that Mahendra died in his arms after eating dinner "on shikar" and died 31 January 1972 in Bharatpur.[21]
His son Birendra assumed the throne on 24 February 1975 but perished in the Nepalese royal massacre on 1 June 2001.
Ratna Rajya Lakshmi Devi Shah (born 19 August 1928) was Queen consort of Nepal from 1955 to 1972 and Queen Mother from 1972 to 2008 when the royal family were stripped of all titles and privileges.
She is the second wife of King Mahendra of Nepal (1920–1972). Queen Ratna belongs to the aristocratic Rana family and is the daughter of late Honorary General Hari Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana and his wife, Megha Kumari Rajya Lakshmi.
