Burma/Myanmar Royalty

[Toledo]

News on the former Kingdom of Burma (in Spanish we call it Birmania) now called Myanmar

[Toledo]

While the monarchy in Nepal seems to be fading away the monarchy in Burma seems to be coming back.

Burmese general takes up royal powers, keeping rivals isolated

...the senior general in Burma, who has adorned himself with regal trappings, switched his junta to one-man rule and ordered the Government to move to a new city whose name, Nay Pyi Daw, means "royal capital"...

General Than Shwe, 74, and his wife Kyaing Kyaing, have adopted the airs of ancient Burmese royalty, taking elaborate titles and performing temple rites once reserved for kings and queens, under the guidance of astrologers. They have built a residence in the new capital for which Italian marble was and replaced by choice polished stone from China, the junta's keenest friend.

[Toledo]

Kings and leaders of Burma/Myanmar 1044-1900

[Toledo]

An Interview with Gustaaf Houtman, January 2004

The Culture of Burmese Politics

Burmese political culture has been in transition ever since the demise of the monarchy and even before but experienced a crisis after national independence. It is not actually a stable system—some elements hark back to past, mostly authoritarian role models, while others anticipate a reformed political system based on new role models. Both borrow outside ideas. Immediately prior to annexation Burma was close to transforming itself, as had Thailand, into a constitutional monarchy but failed to do so...

... The country is no longer unified as it once was through royal ritual and marriage alliances, and military authority cannot hold it together forever. So new political models, political cultures, urgently need to be explored and developed if the country is to be saved from what sometimes seems like an interminable political crisis.

[GlitteringTiaras]

Here is an interesting article regarding Myanmar's (Burma) last royal.

Taw Paya is the sole surviving grandson of the former Burma's last monarch, King Thibaw, exiled to India by the British in 1885. The blue blood flowing in his veins does not make him immune to recrimination, but it certainly helps.