Hridayendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev

Prince Hridayendra of Nepal (born 30 July 2002) is a member of the Nepalese Royal Family and was second in line to the throne. The monarchy was officially suspended on 28 May 2008. Until the suspension of the monarchy he was known in Nepal by the title Nava Yuvaraj.

Nava Yuvaraj

Hridayendra was born at 12:49 pm in the Narayanhity Royal Palace in Kathmandu to Crown Prince Paras and Crown Princess Himani. At birth he weighed 3.3 kg.

His grandfather Gyanendra is the deposed king of Nepal and his grandmother is Queen Komal, a member of the Rana dynasty. Through his mother he is descended from the Indian princely family of Sikar, which belongs to the Shekhawat clan. Following Hindu custom he was officially named Hridayendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev in a ceremony at the Narayanhity Royal Palace eleven days after his birth. At birth he was given the title Nava Yuvaraj (Young Crown Prince) being the eldest son of the heir apparent.

In Hinduism there are a number of stages to groom a future king. Six months after his birth, in accordance with Nepalese royal tradition, Prince Hridayendra received the traditional rice feeding ceremony (Annaprasan ceremony) at the Narayanhity Royal Palace. The ceremony was carried out in accordance with Vedic tradition. During the ceremony he was fed rice by his mother, then by other members of the Royal Family. Following another traditional feature of the ceremony he was offered a gold coin by the prime minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand and other officials. Later Prince Hridayendra made his first public appearance in a chariot procession and was taken to holy sites in old Kathmandu where worship and rituals were held. The Prime Minister acts as guardian during this stage of the ceremony, and carries the prince around the temples to symbolise the roots between the people and the monarchy.

Place in the line of succession

Prince Hridayendra was second in the line of succession to the Nepalese throne from his birth until the monarchy was abolished on 28 May 2008 after 2008 Constituent Assembly election.

In August 2006, before the monarchy was suspended, the Nepalese government adopted a bill to replace the Agnatic succession law with equal primogeniture. The House of Representatives subsequently approved the bill. Had the bill become law, Prince Hridayendra wouldn't have been relegated to third in the line of succession with his older sister Princess Purnika being elevated to second, because the law also possessed the clause that the present Royals will not be relegated from their titles, till their lifetime.

In February 2007, there was speculation in Nepal that Prince Hridayendra's father and grandfather would make a way for him to take the throne. In July 2007, the Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala repeated calls for the King and Crown Prince to abdicate in favour of Prince Hridayendra though this was rejected by the Maoists.

Post monarchy

On 24 December 2007 it was announced that Nepal would abolish the monarchy in 2008 after the Constituent Assembly elections. On 28 May 2008 the monarchy was officially suspended, replaced by an interim secular federal republic.

Prior to the suspension of the monarchy Hridayendra attended Rupy’s International School in Kathmandu with his sisters Princesses Purnika and Kritika. In July 2008 Prince Hridayendra left Nepal with his mother and sisters to move to Singapore to join his father who had been making arrangements for the family to live in the country.

From : www.wikipedia.org