Ugyen Wangchuck

Who was Ugyen Wangchuck?

Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuck was the first King of Bhutan from 1907 to 1926.

He was born in 1862 to Jigme Namgyal, penlop of Trongsa and Ashi Pema Choki. He succeeded his father as Penlop of Trongsa. From his power base in central Bhutan, Ugyen Wangchuck defeated his political enemies and united the country following several civil wars and rebellions in 1882–1885.

In 1907, an epochal year for the country, Ugyen Wangchuck was unanimously chosen as the hereditary monarch of the country by the people at Punakha, the old capital of Bhutan.

For his services in mediating between the British and Tibetans during the Younghusband Expedition to Lhasa, Tibet, he was knighted by the British in 1904. He was appointed Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire in the 1921 New Year Honours, having already been appointed Knight Commander in 1904.