Who killed the entire family of the King of Nepal and himself in 2001, and what did this ultimately lead to?

History knows many cases when the royal families died entirely, but usually this was the result of a struggle for power, palace coups, political intrigues. The royal family could be destroyed due to religious or ideological differences (as in Russia they did with Nicholas II and his family).

But in 2001, a tragic and mysterious incident occurred – the entire royal family of Nepal was killed. At the same time, politics, religion, ideology and other similar things had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was, so to speak, a terrible family drama.

The king of Nepal, Birendr Bir Bikram Shah, was very much loved by the common people of his country. His family was large and friendly, as expected, she was considered exemplary.

On that ill-fated day, June 1, 2001, the king, his wife and children, and other close relatives gathered in Kathmandu for dinner. During the feast, a conflict arose. The fact is that the eldest son of the king and, accordingly, the heir to the throne of Nepal, Dipendra, decided to marry. His chosen one was the daughter of one of the deputies of Nepal, an Indian by birth, whose family has long competed with the royal family.

The heir to the throne cannot control his fate in such an important matter as marriage – this is what the king and his wife told their son at dinner, who were against the union of Dipendra with an Indian woman. By that time everyone was somewhat tipsy, and the king’s eldest son, a quick-tempered man, left the table and left the dinner.

The trouble is that he went not for comfort, but for revenge. He got to his apartment, changed into a camouflage uniform, took a weapon and returned to his family. From the M-16 machine gun, he shot everyone: his parents, his brother and sister, sisters and brother of the king, his son-in-law, head of security. After that, the young man went out into the garden and shot himself in the head, but Dipendra did this not very skillfully, and lived for several more days, dying on June 4th. But these are not all Dipendra’s victims. When the mother of one of the dead was informed of the death of her son, she did not survive this bad news.

And then another interesting moment followed. No one dared to tell the people of Nepal the whole truth about the conflict in the royal family, because this would cast a shadow on the great family, which was considered authoritative and infallible in everything. It was announced to the people that the submachine gun was out of order and had shot all those gathered for dinner.

The same Dipendra, who was the murderer, was named the new Nepalese monarch on the day of the tragedy. However, he was the king of Nepal for only a few days, moreover, the killer himself never found out that he was crowned, as he was in a coma. After his death, the brother of the deceased king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Gyanendra sat on the throne of the state.

However, his ascension to the throne caused great riots, as certain forces began an information campaign that the murder of the royal family was the work of Gyanendra. Of course, no one believed the story about the machine gun that opened fire on its own, the image of the royal power in Nepal was irreparably damaged, and soon the monarchy in the country was completely abolished.