A home ministry official (left) enters the Narayanhitti Palace in Kathmandu on Sunday. (Reuters)

Kathmandu, June 1 (Reuters): Nepal went back to work today as government offices and schools opened for the first time since the Himalayan nation became a republic, ending its centuries-old monarchy.

A special assembly that voted on the monarchy’s fate on Wednesday gave the dethroned King Gyanendra 15 days to vacate the Narayanhitty Palace.

The government declared a three-day national holiday to mark the birth of Nepal as a republic, a crucial condition set by Maoists in a 2006 peace deal that ended their decade-long civil war which caused more than 13,000 deaths.

But the mood in the palace was subdued.

“Today is the first day in office after the assembly vote and there is all confusion,” a senior palace official, who asked not to be named, said. Sunday is a working day in Nepal. “There is no one to tell us what to do and what not,” he said.

“We are headless.”

There are nearly 600 civilian employees — palace bureaucrats, royal photographers, drivers, cooks and maids — still working in the palace. They were hired by the king and received direct instructions from him.

The government says it will either retire them or move them to government departments.

“We are loyal to His Majesty,” the palace official said. “But we can’t do anything for him.”

The Maoists scored a surprise win in elections held in April, emerging as the biggest political party in the 601-member Constituent Assembly and are expected to form a new interim government.

Thousands of people who marched on the streets of Kathmandu to celebrate a republic last week had demanded that Gyanendra leave the Kathmandu palace immediately.

No public memorials were held today, the anniversary of the bizzare palace massacre in 2001, in which King Birendra and other royal family members were killed by Crown Prince Dipendra, who was unhappy with his parents’ refusal to allow him to marry his girlfriend. The prince also killed himself.

Gyanendra has not made any comment after the assembly vote and is expected to move to his private home in Kathmandu.

Palace museum

Gyanendra lost his ancestral home in the mountainous west today, officials said.

Maoist chief Prachanda and other Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) leaders travelled to Gorkha, a small hill station 150km west of Kathmandu, and announced that the palace there is now a museum open to the public.

Gorkha is where Gyanendra’s ancestors came from. He never lived there but made annual visits for religious ceremonies.

Prachanda inaugurated the museum today, said local police chief Geeta Upreti.