List of rulers of Bhutan

King of Bhutan
Emblem of Bhutan
Incumbent
Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck since 9 December 2006
5th Dragon King (Druk Gyalpo)
Details
Style	His Majesty
Heir presumptive	Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck
First monarch	Ugyen Wangchuck
Formation	17 December 1907
Residence	Samteling Palace, Thimphu

Politics of Bhutan
Constitution Law Human rights LGBT rights
Monarchy King (list) Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck Heir Apparent Crown Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck Wangchuck dynasty
State religion Dratshang Lhentshog (state religious commission) Chairman: The Je Khenpo
Government Executive Prime Minister Lotay Tshering Lhengye Zhungtshog (council of ministers) Parliament National Council National Assembly Judiciary Royal Court of Justice Supreme Court High Court Dzongkhag Courts Dungkhag Courts
Elections Recent elections Assembly: 2018 2023–24 Council: 2018 2023 Local: 2011 Political parties
Administrative divisions Districts of Bhutan Gewogs Dungkhags Thromdes Chiwogs Villages
Foreign relations Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minister: Tandi Dorji Diplomatic missions of / in Bhutan Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Other countries
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Bhutan was founded and unified as a country by Ngawang Namgyal, 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche in the mid–17th century. After his death in 1651, Bhutan nominally followed his recommended "Dual System of Government". Under the dual system, government control was split between a secular leader, the Druk Desi (འབྲུག་སྡེ་སྲིད་, a.k.a. Deb Raja);^{[nb 1]} and a religious leader, the Je Khenpo (རྗེ་མཁན་པོ་).

Both the Druk Desi and Je Khenpo were under the nominal authority of the Zhabdrung Rinpoche, a reincarnation of Ngawang Namgyal. In practice however, the Zhabdrung was often a child under the control of the Druk Desi, and regional penlops often administered their districts in defiance of the power of the Druk Desis until the rise of the unified Wangchuck dynasty in 1907.^[1]

Since the rise of the unified Wangchuck family in 1907, the Druk Gyalpo (འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་; lit. "Dragon King") have been the head of state of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Below appears the list of Druk Desis throughout the existence of the office. Officeholders were initially appointed by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, though after his death the Je Khenpo and civil government decided appointments.

Italics indicate coregencies and caretaker governments, which are not traditionally separately numbered.

The Bhutanese monarchy was established on 17 December 1907, unifying the country under the control of the Wangchuck dynasty, hereditary penlops (governors) of Trongsa Province. The King of Bhutan, formally known as the Druk Gyalpo ("Dragon King"), also occupies the office of Druk Desi under the "Dual System of Government". Since the enactment of the Constitution of 2008, the Druk Gyalpo has remained head of state, while the Prime Minister of Bhutan acts as executive and head of government in a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy.^[4]

Name	Lifespan	Reign start	Reign end	Notes	Family	Image
Ugyen 1st Druk Gyalpo ཨོ་རྒྱན་དབང་ཕྱུག	(1862-06-11)11 June 1862 – 26 August 1926(1926-08-26) (aged 64)	17 December 1907	26 August 1926	Son of Jigme Namgyal	Wangchuck
Jigme 2nd Druk Gyalpo འཇིགས་མེད་དབང་ཕྱུག	1905 – 30 March 1952 (aged 46–47)	26 August 1926	30 March 1952	Son of Ugyen	Wangchuck
Jigme Dorji 3rd Druk Gyalpo འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་ འཇིགས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་མཆོག་	(1928-05-02)2 May 1928 – 21 July 1972(1972-07-21) (aged 44)	30 March 1952	21 July 1972	Son of Jigme	Wangchuck
Jigme Singye 4th Druk Gyalpo འཇིགས་མེད་སེང་གེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་	(1955-11-11) 11 November 1955 (age 69)	21 July 1972	9 December 2006 (abdicated)	Son of Jigme Dorji	Wangchuck
Jigme Khesar Namgyel 5th Druk Gyalpo འཇིགས་མེད་གེ་སར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་དབང་ཕྱུག་	(1980-02-21) 21 February 1980 (age 44)	9 December 2006	Incumbent	Son of Jigme Singye	Wangchuck

• Tibetan dual system of government
• Queen of Bhutan
• Constitution of Bhutan
• History of Bhutan

• Petech, Luciano (1972). The Rulers of Bhutan c. 1650–1750. Oriens Extremus. Vol. 19. Hamburg: Zeitschrift für Sprache, Kunst und Kultur der Länder des Fernen Ostens. pp. 203–213.
• Dorji, C. T. (1997). Blue annals of Bhutan. Vikas. ISBN 9788125904366.
• Truhart, Peter (1985). Regents of nations: systematic chronology of states and their political representatives in past and present. Regents of Nations: Systematic Chronology of States and Their Political Representatives in Past and Present : a Biographical Reference Book, Peter Truhart. Vol. 2. Saur. pp. 1005 et seq. ISBN 3-598-10493-6.
• Dorji, C. T. (2004). Sources of Bhutanese history. Prominent Publishers. pp. 330 et seq. ISBN 81-86239-16-2.
• Younghusband, Sir Francis Edward (1910). India and Tibet: a history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904. J. Murray.