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King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal (born July 7 , 1947 ) is the King Of Nepal and Supreme Commander In Chief of the Royal Nepalese Army . He has been King since June 4 2001 when he succeeded to the throne upon the death of Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah . Dipendra himself was only King for three days whilst in a coma following a massacre of the preceding king and other members of the royal family. Gyanendra's personal motto is: "Knowledge is power, work is worship." EARLY LIFE As the second son of King Mahendra , the infant Gyanendra was declared king for two months (1950–1951) when the rest of his family was in exile in India , but was not internationally recognized. His grandfather Tribhuvan was returned to the throne shortly after, when the Rana family conceded power. Gyanendra married Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah on May 1, 1970. They have two children; Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev (born December 30 1971 ) and Princess Prerana Rajya Laxmi Devi (born March 1, 1978). SUCCESSION In 2001 , after his nephew Dipendra purportedly staged a Murder Suicide , killing most of the Royal Family , including King Birendra (Dipendra's father, and Gyanendra's brother), Gyanendra became king again. The royal massacre has remained a controversial subject. The official investigation report mentions that Dipendra was drunk and was not able to control himself and yet it claims that within less than half an hour he carried four weapons and fired indiscriminately. Moreover, Dipendra was right handed and the entry wound that killed him was found on his left temple. All these issues have made people suspect that it was not Dipendra who killed the royal family but somebody else. Given these circumstances, some Nepalese have lost the faith they had in the monarch as an incarnation of a God . But, many people believe that he is the originator of Royal Palace Massacre of Nepal. REIGN As king Gyanendra has sought to exercise full control over the government, twice in three years dismissing the in 1990 in which he, as King, played a minor role in government, and Gyanendra's changes to this constitutional settlement have met with censure. Gyanendra took complete control for the second time on February 1 , 2005 , accusing prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba 's government of failing to make arrangements for parliamentary elections and of being unable to restore peace in the country, which currently suffers from widespread Terrorism and an insurgency from Maoists . {Link without Title} Gyanendra promised that "peace and effective democracy" would be restored within three years, but the period of direct rule was accompanied by repression of dissent.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4233729.stm International organizations expressed grave concerns about the safety of journalists and human rights activists, following the king's decision to restrict civil liberties, including freedom of the press, the constitutional protection against censorship and the right against preventive detention [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/64189/] Gyanendra countered, saying that "democracy and progress contradict one another" as a necessary step in restoring peace to the country. In April 2006 constitutionalists staged Protests And Strikes in Kathmandu against Gyanendra's direct rule. These protests drew support from Journalist s, Lawyer s, and other groups. The royal government responded by passing a curfew, which police enforced violently by beating protesters with canes or firing on them. The government's response drew condemnation from other countries including India and the United States . On April 21 Gyanendra announced that he would yield executive authority to a new prime minister chosen by the political parties to oversee the return of democracy. Several party leaders rejected the offer and again demanded that the king call a council to determine the monarchy's future role in politics. On April 24 Gyanendra reinstated the previous parliament in a televised address to the nation. TITLES
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