Last ruler of remote Buddhist kingdom dies in Nepal


Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista gives an interview to AFP in Kathmandu in 2007. - AFP

Kathmandu (AFP) - The last king of the isolated Himalayan region of Upper Mustang died Friday in Kathmandu, eight years after he lost his royal title when the centuries-old Buddhist monarchy was abolished.

Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista, who was 86, reigned over the arid kingdom high on the Tibetan plateau for more than half a century before stepping down in 2008 when Nepal abolished its own monarchy.

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