For a man who was once worshipped as an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, Gyanendra Shah of Nepal has come down in the world. Gone are his sumptuous royal palaces and fleets of luxury cars; when he went on a brief walkabout in earthquake-ravaged Kathmandu this week, his majesty wore a blue shell suit top instead of his royal robes.
The 67-year-old aristocrat was stripped of his title as king eight years ago, as part of a peace deal between the government and Nepal's Maoist guerrillas, ending an insurgency that had claimed 15,000 lives.
With his face erased from Nepal's currency and his divine authority removed, the hope was that his elected replacements would pull Nepal out of poverty faster than centuries of royal rule had achieved.
Ex King Gyanendra Shah on street talking with earthquake victims
Now, after Nepal's worst earthquake in 80 years, some Nepalis are wondering whether Gyanendra's reign was actually all that bad. Mounting frustration over the pace of the relief efforts has led to riots in Kathmandu, with politicians criticised for failing to visit quake-stricken areas.
There is a sense that the 601-strong parliament that voted to get rid of the king in 2008 has not risen to challenge of their first major national crisis.
"It would be nice to have the king back," said Gagan Malla, 42, a businessman living with his family in one of Kathmandu's "tent cities", where thousands of newly homeless people have been camping since last Saturday. "The political parties have done nothing for us so far, whereas I think the king would have been trying to help."
Mr Malla's tent is among those pitched in a paddock of the royal family's former palace, where sections of white picket fencing show where the king used to keep his horses. The palace itself is now a national museum that houses the royal family's crown jewels, although for many visitors, an equal attraction is the grisly story that unfolded on the night of June 1, 2001.
Nepalese students chant anti king slogan as they burn his pictures in papers in an effort to defy a government imposed curfew, in 2006
That evening, the previous monarch, Eton-educated King Birendra, was shot dead along with his wife, Queen Aishwarya, daughter Prince Shruti and son Prince Nirajan, and five other members of the royal household. The gunman was none other than King Birendra's own son, Crown Prince Dipendra, who then turned his assault rifle on himself. While he was under the influence of drink and drugs at the time, some linked it to an ancient curse which warned that the Shah dynasty – which took power in 1768 – would fall after 10 generations.
It was not the first time that the family was hit by tragedy. In 2000, Crown Prince Paras, who is Gyanendra's son, was accused of killing a popular Nepalese singer while drunk at the wheel of his vehicle. Last year, he also spent several months in a Thai jail for drug possession.
Yet despite his family's chequered past, Gyanendra, who took over when his brother Birendra was killed, still wants to return to the throne. In a rare interview in 2012, he argued for a back seat role, saying that Nepal's political parties spent too much time squabbling and not enough time working to improve the country. Around a quarter of Nepalis still live on less than $1 a day, and rural literacy rates can be as low as 40 per cent.
View of a destroyed building after the earthquake in Kathmandu
True, it would not just be Nepal's Far-Left Maoists who might oppose his return. The royal family's profligacy and playboy lifestyles estranged them from many of their traditional supporters, and while King Gyanendra's picture used to be everywhere, today it is hard to find a tea towel with his face on it in Kathmandu's souvenir bazaars.
But with the death toll from the earthquake still climbing, and many remote rural areas still cut off from aid, some Nepalis cannot help wondering if they have simply swapped one mediocre leader for many.
"We used to have one King alone, and he might have come and helped us," said Shirestrha Hari, 52, a neighbour of Mr Malla in the camp in Gyanendra's old paddock. "Now we have 601 kings, and none of them help us at all."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/nepal/11577383/Nepal-earthquake-Now-we-have-601-kings-and-none-of-them-help-us.html
