A fairytale royal wedding in a kingdom of gold
Asia's answer to a fairytale royal wedding, minus the tacky tea towels
Bhutan's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck (L) and his fiancee Jetsun Pema pose in Bhutan. Photo: Reuters
The prayer wheels are being repainted on the wooden footbridge to Bhutan's most imposing fortress. The 17th-century Punakha Dzong is being spruced up before its role as the venue for a royal wedding in the last Himalayan kingdom.
King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 31, will marry Jetsun Pema, 21, beneath its guilded pinnacles on October 13.
Like Kate Middleton, who wed Prince William earlier this year, the bride is a commoner. Pema is the daughter of an airline pilot.
But in Bhutan, landlocked between India and China, market stalls are not groaning under the weight of nuptial tea towels or coffee mugs, although a commemorative coin has been struck.
Following the ceremony, public celebrations are expected to take place across the country in which the monarchy is highly revered.
King Jigme has vowed that his wedding will be a simple affair, in keeping with the traditions in the devoutly Buddhist kingdom of 700,000. Pema has regularly appeared with him in public in recent months.
''While she is young, she is warm and kind in heart and character. These qualities, together with the wisdom that will come with age and experience, will make her a great servant to the nation,'' he told parliament when announcing his marriage in June.
With his Elvis Presley good looks, reputation for hard work and informality - he cycles around the capital, Thimpu - the young Oxford-educated king has endeared himself to his subjects.
Known as the Druk Gyalpo, the dragon king and the wearer of the raven crown - or, more prosaically, as simply K5 - King Jigme is the fifth king since a hereditary monarchy was established in 1907. Although his father married four sisters, King Jigme is not expected to take more than one wife.
King Jigme was crowned in 2008 after his father abdicated to allow the transition to democracy. While the previous king began the process of modernising the country - and introduced the concept of gross national happiness - the reigning monarch must realise this.
Bhutan remains steeped in its ancient culture, where national dress must be worn in official buildings and television was introduced only in 1999. But how to maintain its traditions while opening to the world will be among the royal couple's greatest challenges.
Change is inevitable, says Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi, director of the National Museum of Bhutan. ''We are not panicking,'' he said. ''We are trying to follow the middle way. We don't negate the modern [world] and we are never attached to our culture.
''Culture should be dynamic; it should evolve naturally. We can't live 1000 years before.''
Nonetheless Tashi is concerned about the impact of change on Bhutan. ''I worry a little bit because the coming from outside of internet, mobile phone, plastic, easy life - everything, that makes distractions for people,'' he says.
''We don't want to have all the Western culture [or think] if you buy car it will make you happy; if you have a flat-screen television it will make you happy.''
Education is a key antidote to growing materialism in a country where 42 per cent of the population is younger than 15, he says. The school system has recently introduced training in mindfulness which, as a senior monk, he had helped oversee.
''That doesn't mean you sit formally with closed eyes,'' he says. ''It means you pick up the plastic bag; you share an apple, or your water.''
Such values as generosity have been taught in homes for centuries, but now schools are taking on the responsibility, he says.
Work is under way to improve the position of Bhutan's nuns, one of its poorest and least-educated groups. Unlike the monasteries, few nunneries receive government funding, says Tashi Zangmo, executive director of the Bhutan Nuns Foundation. Formed two years ago under the patronage of the Queen Mother, Ashi Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck, it has begun training nuns as teachers and healthcare workers, and building libraries and other basic facilities.
''Most of the nunneries are in remote areas where there are few schools or health services,'' Dr Zangmo says. Girls especially often missed out on education, she says. ''If we educate the nuns beyond their spiritual responsibilities, there are benefits for their entire communities. That also helps brings about gross national happiness.''
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The next country to watch. Bhutan may be poor, but with the right resources it is a gold mine.
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