I may here explain why I have given to the present chapter the heading: “The Two Kings of Nepāl.” Nepāl, indeed, possesses two Kings, a King de jure and a King de facto, in Nepālese respectively Pānch Sarkār and Tīn Sarkār. The de facto King is the real Ruler of Nepāl and the de jure King is only the figure-head, maintaining his court by means of a civil list, or rather a pension allowed by the former. In name the de facto King is the Prime Minister of the country, but the actual sovereignty is in his hands, and the nation knows only him as its King. The existence of the King de jure is known, it may be said, only by a circle of Government officials, the general mass having but a very vague idea about it. It was of the return home of the de facto King that I was informed.
About sunset on the 14th, the Prime-Minister (the King de facto) did, indeed, arrive in Beelganji, preceded and followed by a cortège of great splendor, the most conspicuous feature of which was a train of enormous elephants, on which were seated the Princes and Princesses of the royal family. Nepāl is a polygamous country, and the number of royal scions is consequently very large. The entrance of the royal procession into Beelganji was announced with a salvo of thirteen guns. So the King returned, but the Regent advised me to wait another day, promising me that he would manage to obtain an audience for me at about ten o’clock the following morning, or more accurately, he would arrange the matter for me if I should present myself at the palace at about ten o’clock in the morning and patiently wait there till five o’clock in the afternoon. This I did.
It appeared that no person, as a rule, is granted an audience in the palace on the occasion of a first presentation. However I was taken into an inner court and was presented to the King as he came out on his evening walk. Then I had the singular satisfaction of his accepting from me a certain object of Japanese fine art. The Prime-Minister King seemed to be very well pleased with my present, and even offered to pay me its price. Whatever the King’s offer meant, I insisted on its being a present on my part. Then I was invited to go in with His Highness, who treated me like a ten years’ acquaintance.
THE PRIME MINISTER OF NEPAL, H. H. CHANDRA SHAMSIR.
[CHAPTER XCV.]
Audience of the Two Kings.
Following the de facto King into a royal apartment, I saw His Highness take his seat first, followed by another who sat by him and whom I took for a Minister of State. I subsequently found out that the second gentleman was no less a personage than his Majesty the real King of Nepāl. The audience took the form of a catechism, which was in substance as follows:
“I understand that you have been to Tibet: what made you undertake the adventure?”