The 31-year-old king of Bhutan, an Oxford-educated bachelor crowned in the remote Himalayan country in 2008, set up another royal wedding on Friday by announcing his engagement.

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who helped usher in democracy in the Buddhist nation, revealed his intention to marry student Jetsun Pema in an address at the opening of parliament, local officials said.

“The king presided over the opening of parliament this morning and during the ceremony he announced that he would be getting married in October,” a secretary from the ministry of information, Dasho Kinley Dorji, told AFP.

“There will be a celebration, but His Majesty has requested that the government not make big plans and big celebrations,” Dorji Wangchuk from the royal press office, told AFP by telephone from the capital Thimphu.

“It is because of the lack of resources (in Bhutan), and secondly to make the celebrations more intimate and personal,” he added. read more