“There was never any doubt that Prince Jigme’s heart and his intellectual interests and concerns revolved wholly around Bhutan and the country’s future as a democracy…”

- Dr. Mark Philp of the Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University

Changmai, Thailand, HM receives Honorary Doctorate Degree in Philosophy, Politics & Economics from Rangsit University, Nov’ 2006IT COULD BE SAID THAT EDUCATION MAKES THE MAN. THIS would accord due importance to the place of education as perhaps the single most important factor in the formation of an individual’s character, perspective and vision. It would follow that education constitutes an important consideration in the life of any average person. It would, of course, be crucial for a future king.

His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck began his formal education in Bhutan, alongside other Bhutanese children. Transferred to the Cushing Academy in the U.S., his teachers remember him as a diligent student, always sitting in the front row “ready to drink in all of the information he could.”

“Jigme would often remain quiet and thoughtful during class,” reminisces Michelle Brown, his ecology teacher at Cushing. “However, one always knew that he was thinking, absorbing and analyzing the lecture being presented.”

At the storied Wheaton College in Massachusetts, the young Crown Prince was already distinguishing himself as a future leader of uncommon gravity and responsibility.

“I was struck by his commitment to ensuring meaningful development in all areas—economics, political, social and spiritual—for the people of his country,” said Susan Dearing, Associate Professor of English at Wheaton. “I sometimes wondered what it would be like to have such huge responsibilities at such a young age, but it was clear that Jigme was equal to the task.”

By the time he arrived at the venerable University of Oxford in the United Kingdom in the year 2000, Bhutan’s Crown Prince was already well habituated to approaching his education through the prism of his future responsibilities as king.

“When he saw how teaching is carried out at Oxford his mind clearly traveled back to Bhutan to see what could be borrowed from this country or this University and adapted to the needs of his country,” wrote the President of Magdalen College at Oxford, Anthony Smith. “When he studied comparative politics it was to see how all he learned could be brought into use in the evolving constitutional life of Bhutan.”

Spanning a wide spectrum of interests from Shakespearean Literature to Philosophy, Economics and Diplomacy, the Crown Prince’s interests eventually came to rest on what is arguably the most pressing concern facing the new Bhutanese nation.

“There was never any doubt that Prince Jigme’s heart and his intellectual interests and concerns revolved wholly around Bhutan and the country’s future as a democracy,” wrote Dr. Mark Philp of the Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University. “He gained considerably in understanding and in the depth of his analysis in the process of reflection about the democratic institutions of the West, while remaining wholly committed to assisting the process of change and development in his home country.”

Perhaps the clearest indication that Bhutan’s Crown Prince received an education befitting the leader of an emerging nation is evident in the following accolade from Michael Allington, his Economics professor at Oxford.

“I had the pleasure of teaching HRH Prince Jigme for three years. I say ‘teach’, but in fact Prince Jigme taught me far more than, I’m sure, I ever taught him.”