WRAP Deposed King talks to reporters, leaving palace

(11 Jun 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Nepal's former King Gyanendra, arriving at news conference in Katmandu's royal palace
2. Gyanendra seated for the conference
3. SOUNDBITE: (Nepali) Gyanendra, formerly King Gyanendra of Nepal:
"I have no intention or thoughts to leave the country. I am going to stay in my motherland Nepal and contribute to establish peace."
4. Wide of reporters at news conference
5. SOUNDBITE: (Nepali) Gyanendra, formerly King Gyanendra of Nepal:
"I have handed over the crown and sceptre that has remained the symbol of the Shah dynasty to the Nepal Government today for safe keeping."
6. Close-up of cameras
7. Exterior view of royal palace
8. General public gathered at palace gates
9. Wide of palace, people gathered by gates
++NIGHT SHOTS++
10. Wide of cars leaving Narayanhiti Royal palace; Gyanendra (sitting in black Mercedes) and his wife Komal waving to crowd
11. Wide of crowd gathered outside the palace shouting anti-monarchy slogans
12. Wide of convoy surrounded by security and media
13. Wide shot of car carrying personal belongings of Gyanendra leaving palace
14. Wide of convoy
STORYLINE
Deposed King Gyanendra left Nepal's royal palace for good on Wednesday, marking an end to the world's last Hindu monarchy, a reign that had stretched 239 years.
While Gyanendra's throne was formally abolished last month, the former king left the palace on Wednesday to begin a new life as something akin to an ordinary citizen, leaving the troubled country to pass another milestone in its new era as a young republic.
"I have no intention or thoughts to leave the country," Gyanendra said in his first public statement in months.
"I am going to stay in my motherland Nepal and contribute to establish peace," he added.
Nepal's government plans to turn the palace into a museum and Gyanendra plans to move to one of his former summer palaces on a forested hill on the outskirts of Katmandu.
There, he will be protected by police but will otherwise live as any other Nepali - albeit an incredibly wealthy one who some believe should still reign.
His loyalists are few, however, and most of the hundreds who came to the palace gates for the final exit jeered him as he passed, chanting "Gaye, thief, leave the country."
Nepal was declared a republic last month after elections that saw the country's former communist rebels win the most seats in a special assembly charged with rewriting the constitution.
Before leaving on Wednesday, he handed over to government officials his crown of peacock feathers, yak hair and jewels, along with his royal sceptre.
The government granted the royal court a small concession on Wednesday when it allowed two elderly women - the mistress of a former king, and Gyanendra's stepmother - permission to remain in the palace because they had no family and no place else to go.
The Narayanhiti palace had been Gyanendra's home since becoming king in 2001 after a massacre in which a gunman, allegedly the crown prince, assassinated King Birendra and much of the royal family before killing himself.
After his brother's death, Gyanendra assumed the throne.
But the killings helped pierce the mystique surrounding a line of kings who had once been revered as reincarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu.
No proof has ever surfaced that Gyanendra was involved in the massacre, but rumours have swirled for years that he was behind the slaughter.
On Wednesday, he dismissed the accusations as a baseless campaign to defame the royal institution.
In 2005, Gyanendra seized power from a civilian government, a move that made him deeply unpopular.

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