In 1907 the small eastern Himalayan country of Bhutan formally established a hereditary monarchy under the Wangchuk dynasty, thus introducing one of the world's most recent experiments in kingship. The new order quickly replaced a divisive form of theocratic rule which had lasted since the state was first unified by a Tibetan lama in the seventeenth century. The first king of the new dynasty, Ugyen Wangchuk, was a charismatic figure who came to power...