Agency: It is well known that His Majesty The Fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck became the Druk Gyalpo at the tender age of 16 in 1972 after His Majesty The Third King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck passed away in Nairobi, Kenya.
What is less known is the sheer discipline, the will, preparation, strategy and the inner workings of His Majesty The Fourth King that led to a glorious reign from 1972 to 2006.
On how His Majesty managed so well from such a young age a source said, “His Majesty always said that it was the fear of failure because we could not afford to fail. Bhutan could not afford to fail and with that in mind His Majesty set out to never fail for his country and people and that mindset means you have to be prepared, you have to have a plan and you have to execute the plan meticulously and it takes a lot of patience and strength.”
Lyonpo Dago Tshering had joined the government in 1961 and he said there were two main things on His Majesty The Fourth King’s mind.
“Number one, he had the people on his mind to serve the people and make the people happy and prosperous as far as possible within our resources. Number two and uppermost in his mind was the security, sovereignty and our territorial integrity of the country. I saw this in 1979 when he went to Havana to attend the NAM summit,” said Lyonpo Dago.
His Majesty from early on was a strict disciplinarian and he was hardest on himself. Lyonpo Om Pradhan who joined government service in 1969 said, “His Majesty did a lot of physical activities and was very strict with his diet. He would never take food like cakes, creams and all that. I never saw him drinking Suja (butter tea) but he was always drinking Green Tea. He was very careful about his food intake. He never ate doma (Betel Nut).”
Another quality was that His Majesty did not partake in alcohol. Dasho Gub Gado Tshering who served His Majesty as a Changap from 1974 onwards said, “When His Majesty visited India on a state visit and he would be toasting, you will always see some juice instead of wine. He never drinks alcohol.”
His Majesty also avoided too much chilli, butter and fatty foods in his diet. Dasho Gado remembers that as the Bumthang Dzongda they used to send some buckwheat flour to His Majesty who used to make Khuley and eat them.
“His Majesty saw me eating doma once or twice and he would say I will get cancer,” said Lyonpo Om chuckling away.
Dasho Gado said that the only thing His Majesty used to take back in those days was a can of coke a day.
If there was only one vice His Majesty had it was smoking later switching to Cuban cigars sent to him regularly by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, but His Majesty even gave that up for quite a few years now.
Intermittent fasting is a recent health trend now but His Majesty was known to eat only once in a day long before this concept was ever known and he continues it to this day.
