By IANS
London : Devyani Rana, the princess whose forbidden love caused the massacre of the Nepali royal family, says the younger generation in Nepal no longer wants a monarchy and that King Gyanendra “makes you feel small”.
In her first comments since her prospective fiancé crown prince Dipendra mowed down nine members of his own royal family seven years ago, she also said she would not have been happy as a queen.
“People are not reverential here in Nepal,” she told the Sunday Times.
“They don’t ask about private lives, about what happened, the incident. I’m not a bitter person. I feel I’ve been lucky. I’ve been given a second chance to start my life again,” she said.
Rana, who is in Nepal campaigning for her father’s Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, said the Nepali monarchy would not be at the mercy of its subjects if the previous king, Birendra, had been around.
“The previous king was such a sweet man. You felt happy when you were in his presence, I just felt happy.”
“The current king (Gyanendra) is one of the few people who makes you feel small. He just looks at you. I do feel things would have been different if the incident had not happened,” Devyani said.
Crown prince Dipendra shot dead his parents – King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya – and seven other royals in a bloodbath in June 2001, said to have been caused by the queen’s opposition to his marrying Devyani.
The young prince then either killed himself or was shot dead by a palace guard.
The regicide saw Birendra’s brother Gyanendra becoming king, but set in motion a chain of political events that is expected to bring about the end of monarchy in the Himalayan Kingdom.
Devyani, now 36, married and working for the United Nations in India, said she would not have been happy as queen.
“I would have been very restricted and I couldn’t have dealt with that,” she told the Sunday Times.
“Some of the older generation still want the royal family, but not the younger generation,” she said.
She said she has no political ambitions of her own.
“I’ve got one year left at the United Nations. I’m 36 and I want to have a child before it’s too late. I would like to use the skills I’ve learned at the UN to help Nepal,” she said.
“The villagers here are not asking about the constituent assembly, they’re thinking about electricity, roads, water and schools,” she noted.
“Nepal is such a beautiful country, and we need more to be done, not by politicians, but by people. I don’t understand why people feel they need power to do anything. I have no interest in becoming involved in politics,” she said.