Former Nepali king leads lonely life as commoner

Ex-Nepali king Gyanendra

With few friends coming to visit and his son and one-time heir now living in Singapore, the new life of Nepal's ousted king as a commoner is by all accounts a lonely, meditative one.
Former king Gyanendra spends his time writing poetry, praying, surfing the Internet and taking walks in the forest around the Nagarjun hunting lodge where he lives just outside the capital Kathmandu, guards and his spiritual adviser said.
"The former king has been spending most of his time inside the bungalow," said a military guard at the lodge. "Occasionally I have seen him sitting in front of a computer or reading books. The place is quiet."
Kanchha Shrestha, who runs a small sweet stall opposite the guarded gates of the reserve, has also noticed a lack of activity at the lodge.
"I haven't seen many people coming to visit except some former royal secretaries," said Shrestha, adding that the ex-king rarely left the premises. "Sometimes he leaves once a week, sometimes once in 15 days."
Those outings are most likely to involve visits to his elderly step-mother, in her 80s, who continues to live in Narayanhiti Palace in the heart of the city.