A King Remembered
It has been a remarkable privilege to have known His Majesty the fourth Druk Gyalpo for some thirty-seven years. It was in 1970 that I was invited by Her Majesty Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuck to help her set up the Ugyen Wangchuck Academy in Paro and to teach science and mathematics to the sixteen pupils there, one of whom was a young man, then called Dasho Jigme, soon to be the fourth King. Coming from a teaching post at a large boarding school in Oxford, it was quite a culture shock to find myself living in the Paro Valley, which was a very different place in those days compared with today. However, I firmly believe young people are very much the same all over the world, and I very quickly settled into the job of teaching Dasho Jigme and his fellow pupils physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics. They were great fun to teach and like all young people, were sometimes naughty. But never wicked. They had a great sense of humour and worked hard. The future King fitted seamlessly into the class and expected in no way to be treated differently from the other pupils.
Dasho Jigme had been presented with a Japanese motorcycle, probably the first in Bhutan, and we learned about the physics of speed and acceleration by timing Dasho as he rode the motorcycle on the road between Paro and the Ugyen Wangchuck Academy. We learned some aspects of mathematics with the help of bows and arrows on the Academy football ground; and in well equipped science laboratories, we learned, through lots of practical experiments, the principles of science. I well recall a heart-stopping moment (for me!) when I handed Dasho Jigme a beaker of hydrochloric acid, and he accepted it, with usual Bhutanese good manners, on the palms of his two hands… and it almost fell over! All too soon after I left the Ugyen Wangchuck Academy, I was saddened to learn of the untimely demise of His Late Majesty Jigme Dorji Wangchuck and realized that now Dasho Jigme, at all too young an age, would become the fourth King of Bhutan.
I returned to Bhutan in 1985 at the invitation of Her Majesty Ashi Kesang, and was honoured with an audience with my former pupil, now His Majesty the King of Bhutan. I will never forget the warmth with which I was received, and I will never forget the profound impression that His Majesty made on me in that audience. The young man I had known at the age of sixteen had grown into a true and confident leader of his country: full of wisdom, dedication and a heartfelt determination to fulfill his role for the benefit of his people. I was struck, too, by His Majesty’s remarkably detailed knowledge of all that was going on in the Kingdom and his considerable understanding of world affairs. From 1985 onwards, I visited Bhutan every year, and always I was shown that same warmth and hospitality from His Majesty, who I saw grow in stature and wisdom, confident in his aims and wishes for the Kingdom.
Those early experiences in the Bhutan of the 1970′s – but especially the never-failing welcome, concern and human kindness which I have received through the years from His Majesty – have changed my life. In my old age I can never find words sufficient to express my heartfelt gratitude to His Majesty the fourth Druk Gyalpo.
A teacher always hopes that his pupils will turn out well. I have been so fortunate to have taught a pupil who has become a great leader and a shining light which will illuminate the future of Bhutan forever.
Michael Rutland, Former Teacher, 2007
Source: The Legacy of a King