Birendra of Nepal
| Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birendra c. 1967 | |||||
| King of Nepal | |||||
| Reign | 31 January 1972 – 1 June 2001 | ||||
| Coronation | 24 February 1975 | ||||
| Predecessor | Mahendra | ||||
| Successor | Dipendra | ||||
| Born | 29 December 1945 Narayanhiti Royal Palace, Kathmandu, Nepal | ||||
| Died | 1 June 2001 (aged 55) Narayanhiti Royal Palace, Kathmandu, Nepal | ||||
| Cause of death | Assassination (gunshot wounds) | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | King Dipendra Princess Shruti Prince Nirajan | ||||
| |||||
| Dynasty | Shah | ||||
| Father | Mahendra | ||||
| Mother | Indra Rajya Lakshmi Devi | ||||
| Religion | Hinduism | ||||
Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (Nepali: श्री ५ महाराजाधिराज वीरेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाह देव; 29 December 1945 – 1 June 2001) was King of Nepal from 1972 until his assassination in 2001.
Birendra was the second son of King Mahendra and became crown prince on account of Mahendra's first son being born out of wedlock. He inherited the panchayat system from his father when he acceded the throne in 1972, ruling as Nepal's absolute monarch. Following the 1990 revolution, he disbanded the system, lifted the concurrent ban on political parties and promulgated a new constitution in which he served as head of state of a democratic constitutional monarchy. The Nepalese Civil War began in the latter part of his reign when the Communist Party of Nepal launched an insurgency in 1996.