Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Nepalese Royal Massacre

Episode Date: June 7, 2022

On June 1, 2001, the nation of Nepal was shocked at the announcement that 10 members of the Nepalese Royal Family were killed in a massacre inside the royal palace.  It wasn’t just a case of homicide, it was a case of regicide, patricide, matricide, fratricide, sororicide, parricide, and suicide.  It was a moment that changed the course of modern Nepal. Learn more about the Nepalese Royal Massacre, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://podfollow.com/everythingeverywhere/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Darcy Adams Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ Everything Everywhere is an Airwave Media podcast." or "Everything Everywhere is part of the Airwave Media podcast network Please contact [e-mail] to advertise on Everything Everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On June 1, 2001, the nation of Nepal was shocked at the announcement that 10 members of the Nepalese royal family were killed in a massacre inside the royal palace. It wasn't just a case of homicide. It was a case of regicide, patricide, matricide, fratricide, saroricide, parricide, and suicide. It was a moment that changed the course of modern Nepal. Learn more about the Nepalese royal massacre on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night.

And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thurline podcast from NPR. To understand the events of June 1, 2001, it's necessary to get a brief background in the Nepalese monarchy. The Kingdom of Nepal dates back to 1768, when Prithvi Narayan Shah united several kingdoms of the Himalayas under the Kingdom of Nepal. He was the first ruler of the Shah dynasty, which was the only dynasty that has ever ruled Nepal. For most of this time, it was an absolute monarchy. But from 1846 to 1951, the king was mostly a figurehead. The country was actually run by a series of hereditary prime ministers called the Rana dynasty. A revolution in 1951 was led by Nepalese who had fought for independent

in India. In the aftermath of the revolution, political parties were banned and the country returned to being an absolute monarchy. In 1972, the crown prince Biendra Birr Bikram-Shah Dev ascended to the throne at the age of 27 to become King Burenda. Burenda was educated at Eaton in the United Kingdom and later attended Harvard. Before he became king, he explored Nepal on foot, staying in local homes without the trappings of royalty. Under Brienda in 1990, Nepal once again became a democracy, and the monarchy went from being absolute to being a constitutional one. Six years later, a civil war began in Nepal when Maoist communist forces set out to overthrow the monarchy and establish a People's Republic aligned with China. By all accounts, in the year

2001, King Brienda was a popular monarch. The immediate royal family at this point consisted of the king, his wife, Queen Aishwara, their three children, including the Crown Prince Dependra, and the King's five siblings. The events which unfolded, that on June 1, 2001, are still not totally understood. The details of what happened are largely understood, although there's still some doubt, but the reason why it happened is still a mystery. But what we do know is that the royal family was having their monthly dinner where everyone got together. It took place inside a smaller building on the palace grounds, and it was a private family affair,

and there were no security guards inside the dining room. When the family assembled, the Crown Prince Dependra arrived extremely intoxicated. reports were that he had difficulty speaking and began arguing with those in attendance. The Crown Prince was then escorted to his private quarters by his cousin Prince Paras and his younger brother, Prince, Narajan. The family retired to the drawing room and broke into small groups to talk. At approximately 9 p.m., the still inebrated Crown Prince returned with several guns, including a fully automatic weapon. His first target was his father, the king. He shot him in the neck and in the stomach. The Crown Prince left after killing his father, only too soon returned to the room where he began shooting again.

The King's brother, Prince D'endra, tried to stop him, but he was shot in the chest. The Crown Prince then walked from the room, shooting everyone he came across. He went into the adjacent garden where he found his younger brother and his mother and shot them both. The entire shooting spree, according to witnesses, only lasted about a minute to a minute and a half. When the Crown Prince was done, he stood on a footbridge in the garden and shot himself in the head, although he didn't immediately die. He killed nine members of the royal family. The victims included his father, the king, his mother, the queen, his younger brother, a prince, his sister a princess, his uncle, the brother of the king, two aunts who were sisters to the king, the husband of one of the aunts, and the cousin of the king.

Almost the entire line of secession to the Nepalese House of Shaw had been murdered. As I mentioned, Crown Prince Dependra didn't die immediately. He was put in a coma for the next several. days. Oddly enough, despite killing his father, he became King Dependra. He spent his entire reign in a coma before dying on June 4th. When Dependra died, the crown was passed to King Prienda's brother, Gianendra, who was not in attendance at the family dinner. Giannendra had previously been king for two months when he was three years old from November of 1950 to January of 51. The monarchy was dissolved in 2008, and King Gianendra is still alive today at the age of 74. There's talk about reconstituting the Nepalese monarchy, but to date nothing has happened.

So the big question, of course, is why this happened? Why did Prince Dependra kill his family and then himself? As he never came out of a coma, we have no first-hand testimony of his where he tries to explain his actions. However, based on reports of what happened between him and his parents, a plausible scenario has been created which might explain why it happened. supposedly Dependra did have some psychological issues. As a boy, he reportedly tortured animals on the palace grounds, which is often a sign of psychopathy. He also never had a close relationship with his parents as most of his upbringing was outsourced to staff. Like his father, he was shipped off to Eaton in the UK where he went to school. While he was in the UK, he met a woman he wanted to marry, a woman who, as his wife, would be the next queen of Nepal. The woman's name was Deviani Rana. Deviani was a member of a member of a woman.

the Rana dynasty, which, as I mentioned before, used to hold the actual power in Nepal. On her mother's side, she's from a minor royal family from Guaulir India. She is the granddaughter of the last Maharaja of Gualior. This greatly displeased the king and the queen who felt that Deviani's family was not of high enough status. The queen especially was upset at his choice and threatened to remove him from the line of succession and to disown him. She wanted him to marry a distant cousin who was a member of the House of Shah. Some speculate that another reason why his parents were against the marriage was because of Deviani's Indian background.

They felt that marrying an Indian would give too much influence to India in the Nepalese court. Deviani's mother was also against the marriage because she felt the Nepalese royal family had less money than her own family. She thought that it would be decreasing the level of comfort that she was used to living in. The relationship between Deviani and Prince Dependra went on for years, with the prince hoping that his parents would eventually come around. However, his parents never came around, and by 2001, the relationship between the Crown Prince and his parents was at a breaking point. On the night in question, he got drunk, snapped, and went on a rampage. That is the conventional

explanation for what happened, and at least to a distant observer, such as myself, it at least seems reasonable. However, it is a law of the universe that when things like this happen, there will be conspiracy theories surrounding it. So it should come as no surprise that with something so monumentous for the nation of Nepal, some people don't find the conventional explanation to be believable. One issue was that Prince Dependra was very well liked, and people just didn't want to think that he was capable of such an act. One conspiracy that had been floated was that it was someone else wearing a mask of the

prince who committed the crime. Another conspiracy held that the person who initiated the attack was the person who benefited the most, the new king, Gianendra. Gianendra himself wasn't present, and none of his children were killed in the attack. The Maoist rebels in Nepal quickly placed the blame for the murders on India's research and analysis wing, which is their intelligence service, or the CIA. Finally, there are facts about the incident which have fueled many of the conspiracy theories. For starters, the Crown Prince shot himself on the left side of his head, despite being

right-handed. No autopsies were ever conducted, and ballistic evidence was burned along with the bodies. Finally, the officials who conducted the formal investigation later said that they were never charged with trying to assess guilt or find a culprit. They were only charged with determining what happened, not who did it, or why. The Nepalese royal massacre, despite occurring in the 21st century, is one of the greatest massacres of royalty in all of history. Certainly the greatest since the execution of the Russian Romanov family over 80 years earlier. It will certainly go down as one of the most significant events in the history of the nation of Nepal.

Everything Everywhere Daily is an Airwave Media podcast. The executive producer is Darcy Adams. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. Today's review comes from listener Dungeon Slammer over at Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, Wish I could give 10 stars. As of writing this, I am one episode away from completing the entire catalog.

This podcast has filled my mind whole with a wealth of knowledge. Who knew a Packer fan could be so smart? P.S. Des. caught it. Thanks, Dungeon Slammer. I assume by now you have listened to your final episode and have now entered the Completionist Club. I would like to welcome you and let you know that you'll be receiving your onboarding kit in the mail shortly. Also, with regards to Des Bryant, I quote, after further review, it has been determined that the receiver did not maintain possession of the football, end quote. So, there you go. Also, the Packers will be extending their all-time record against the Cowboys on November 13th of this year

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