The line of succession to the throne of
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
is based on the constitution of Bhutan. Currently the line of succession is according to
male-preference cognatic primogeniture
Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...
with males preceding females who are in the same degree of kinship. If the heir apparent has reached the age of majority of 21, the monarch would step down at age 65.
If the heir apparent and the nearest people in the line of succession are deemed unsuitable, it is up to the monarch to decide who will be the next heir.
If the monarch violates the constitution, they must abdicate.
Order of succession
* King
Jigme Singye, The Fourth Druk Gyalpo (b. 1955)
**
King
Jigme Khesar Namgyel, The Fifth Druk Gyalpo (b. 1980)
***(1) Prince
Jigme Namgyel
''Desi'' Jigme Namgyal of Bhutan (Dzongkha: འཇིགས་མེད་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་; , 1825–1881) is a forefather of the Wangchuck Dynasty. He served as 48th Druk Desi ( Deb Raja, the secular executive) of Bhutan (1870–1 ...
, The Druk Gyalsey (b. 2016)
***(2) Prince
Jigme Ugyen (b. 2020)
**(3) Prince
Jigyel Ugyen (b. 1984)
**(4) Prince
Khamsum Singye (b. 1985)
**(5) Prince
Jigme Dorji
Dasho Jigme Palden Dorji (14 December 1919 – 6 April 1964) was a Bhutanese politician and member of the Dorji family. By marriage, he was also a member of the House of Wangchuck.
The brother-in-law of Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, Dorji was c ...
, The Gyaltshab (b. 1986)
***(6) Ashi
Decho Pema (b. 2014)
**(7) Prince
Ugyen Jigme (b. 1994)
**(8) Princess
Chimi Yangzom (b. 1980)
***(9) Dasho
Jigme Ugyen (b. 2006)
*** (10) Dasho
Jamyang Singye (b. 2009)
**(11) Princess
Sonam Dechen (b. 1981)
***(12) Dasho
Jigje Singye (b. 2009)
*** (13) Dasho
Jigme Jigten (b. 2013)
**(14) Princess
Dechen Yangzom (b. 1981)
*** (15) Dasho
Ugyen Dorji
Ugyen Dorji ( dz, ཨོ་རྒྱན་རྡོ་རྗེ་, , 1855–1916) was a member of the elite Dorji family and an influential Bhutanese politician. He served as the closest adviser to Ugyen Wangchuck, the hereditary 12th Penlop of ...
***(16) Dasho
Jigme Singye
***(17) Ashi
Dechen Yuidem Yangzom
**(18) Princess
Kesang Choden (b. 1982)
*** (19) Dasho
Jamgyel Singye
***(20) Dasho
Ugyen Junay
***(21) Ashi
Tshering Tshoyang (b. 2019)
** (22) Princess
Euphelma Choden (b. 1993)
Notes
The list is composed of the nearest family of the current monarch. The actual line of succession may be much longer as there could be other legitimate descendants of King
Ugyen Wangchuck
''Gongsar'' Ugyen Wangchuck ( dz, ཨོ་རྒྱན་དབང་ཕྱུག, ; 11 June 1862 – 26 August 1926) was the first Druk Gyalpo (King) of Bhutan from 1907 to 1926. In his lifetime, he made efforts to unite the fledgling country a ...
.
Eligibility
The legitimate descendants of King
Ugyen Wangchuck
''Gongsar'' Ugyen Wangchuck ( dz, ཨོ་རྒྱན་དབང་ཕྱུག, ; 11 June 1862 – 26 August 1926) was the first Druk Gyalpo (King) of Bhutan from 1907 to 1926. In his lifetime, he made efforts to unite the fledgling country a ...
are presently entitled to succeed. If a king dies leaving a pregnant wife, the unborn child will automatically assume a place in the line of succession if there is no male heir.
A person loses his or her succession rights if he or she marries a person who is not a natural born Bhutanese citizen.
Regency
If the successor to the throne has not reached the age of majority of 21 or is mentally or physically incapable of performing his functions, there are two possible outcomes:
* The heir presumptive having reached the age of majority would serve as regent until the regency is not needed.
* The Council of Regency would exercise the royal prerogatives of the king under the constitution if an eligible heir presumptive or other suitable member of the royal family is not available.
Council of Regency
The council of regency is composed of:
*A senior member of the Royal Family nominated by the Privy Council
*The Prime Minister
*The Chief Justice of Bhutan
*The Speaker
*The Chairperson of the National Council
*The Leader of the Opposition Party
The members of the Council of Regency must take an oath of
allegiance before parliament to faithfully discharge their
duties.
The Privy Council consists of two members appointed by the monarch (or previous monarch if the current monarch hasn't appointed any), one member nominated by the Council of Ministers (Lhengye Zhungtshog) and one member nominated by the National Council.
See also
*
Royal Family of Bhutan
References
{{Orders of succession by country
Succession
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...