Shah dynasty

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Nepalese Royal Family

HM The Queen Mother
- HM The King
- HM The Queen
  - HRH The Crown Prince
  - HRH The Crown Princess
    - HRH Princess Purnika
    - HRH Prince Hridayendra
    - HRH Princess Kritika

The Shah dynasty is the ruling dynasty of Nepal.

1 History
2 More recently
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

In the sixteenth century Yashobramha Shah conquered the Principality of Kaski and for this he received the title Shah. In 1599 the Kingdom of Gorkha was founded. It was one of many small independent states that today make up Nepal. The founder of the Kingdom was Dravya Shah the son of Yashobramha Shah, by the time of his death in 1570 Dravya Shah had managed to increase the size of the kingdom to include some of the neighbouring states. His successors continued to increase the kingdoms territory. In 1743 Prithvi Narayan Shah succeeded to throne of Gorkha and set out for the Unification of Nepal which he achieved in September 1768 when he was crowned King of Nepal. In 1815 the Gurkha War broke out between Nepal and the British East India Company. At the end of the war in 1816 Nepal lost one third of its territory to the British East India Company. During the mid-19th century the Shah dynasty lost control of Nepal to the Rana dynasty who reduced the King of Nepal to a figurehead while they ruled the country through hereditary government positions. It wasn't until 1951 that the Shah dynasty regained control with the resignation of Mohan Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana the last Rana Prime minister.

[edit] More recently

In 1990 King Birendra turned Nepal into a constitutional monarchy. On June 1, 2001, a number of members of the Shah dynasty were murdered by Crown Prince Dipendra. Amongst the dead were the Crown Prince's father King Birendra and his brother Prince Nirajan. Following the death of Birendra, the comatose Dipendra was declared king but only reigned for a few days until his death, at which point his uncle Prince Gyanendra succeeded him. In February 2005 King Gyanendra dismissed Parliament and took over control of the government. His direct rule ended in April 2006, and as result the future of Nepal's monarchy and of the Shah dynasty will be decided by a constituent assembly directly chosen by the electorate.