Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck wears the ‘Raven Crown’. (AFP)

Thimphu, Nov. 6: If black is the colour of change in America, it is raven in Bhutan.

The “Raven Crown” was today placed on the head of Oxford-educated Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk, formally making him the new king of a new Bhutan where the 28-year-old will have to tackle the challenge of guiding his country through its transition to democracy.

“The challenge before the new king will be to maintain the traditional culture of Bhutan, while peacefully taking the democratic process forward. The king here rightly enjoys the highest moral authority, and can use that to guide the nation through this phase,” attorney-general Rinzin Penjor told The Telegraph.

That challenge is perhaps best symbolised by the raven that now adorns the fifth king’s head.

The presiding deity of the Wangchuk dynasty, the raven first found its way to the crown of Ugyen Wangchuk when he became king. The founder of the dynasty is credited with uniting warring factions within Bhutan at the start of the last century — one of the challenges another agent of change, Barack Obama, is facing in America now.

A hundred years on, Bhutan is looking to the raven to guide it again.

Watched by Sonia Gandhi, her children and a galaxy of representatives from countries across the globe, Buddhist abbots conducted the anointment ceremony inside the Tashichhodzong, the seat of power here.

The fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, who has ruled Bhutan since 1972, crowned his son, Khesar Namgyel, to the accompaniment of Buddhist music, played out by an instrument that sounds like the shehnai.

Rahul Gandhi wore a deep blue coat, his sister Priyanka a light sea blue sari. Sonia leant forward and hugged the new king in a rare exhibition of emotion.

The new king also won himself a fan in India’s President Pratibha Patil. Patil told officers travelling with her for the coronation that she was “very impressed” with the king, his vision, and his knowledge of India during her interaction with him.

The ceremony, which began at 7.41am in Thimphu, was traditional, identical to that conducted each time at the coronation of a king here since the anointment of Ugyen Wangchuk in 1907.

But the Bhutan the new king will rule is embracing modernity and change like never before.

The fifth king has taken charge of the world’s youngest democracy that held its first general elections earlier this year. For the past century, Bhutanese have unquestioningly followed their only leader — the king, senior officials said.

Now, for the first time, the youths of the country have a choice — two political parties, with their share of leaders, apart from the king.

The parties, the ruling Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) or the Bhutan Harmony Party and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), vocally support the Wangchuk dynasty.

The Prime Minister, Jigme Y. Thinley of the DPT, and PDP president Sangay Ngedup have both worked for the royal Bhutanese government under Jigme Singye Wangchuk.

But this year’s elections exposed fissures in the political class — commonplace in any practised democracy but are new to a country where political debate is largely unknown. The PDP accused the DPT, which won, of cheating.

A traditionally closed society, Bhutan has also over the past decade opened up to modern technology — mobile phones were introduced in 2003, Internet is catching on and youths wearing Nike footwear are not an uncommon sight.