When Did Nepal Abolish the Monarchy? (28 May 2008)

Nepal abolished the monarchy on 28 May 2008, when the country's newly elected Constituent Assembly declared Nepal a federal democratic republic at its very first session. That single decision ended about 240 years of rule by the Shah dynasty and removed the last king, Gyanendra, from the throne. This is the short answer; the full story is told in our main feature on the Nepal monarchy.

Key takeaways

• Nepal abolished the monarchy on 28 May 2008.
• The decision was made by the Constituent Assembly at its first meeting.
• The vote was 560 in favour to 4 against.
• Nepal became a federal democratic republic the same day.
• The last king, Gyanendra, left the royal palace on 11 June 2008.

The exact date and the vote

The monarchy ended on 28 May 2008. On that day the assembly elected the previous month sat for the first time and passed a motion declaring Nepal a republic. The result was decisive: 560 members voted in favour and only 4 against. With that show of hands, the office of king was abolished and the Kingdom of Nepal formally became a republic after roughly two and a half centuries.

The change was constitutional rather than violent. There was no coup and no battle for the palace; the decision came from an elected body acting on the mandate it had been given by voters. In the capital, the announcement was met with public celebration, especially among young people and groups that had long campaigned against royal rule. The decision had effectively been agreed in advance: in December 2007, the major parties had already settled that the monarchy would be abolished once the Constituent Assembly convened, so the 28 May vote formalised a course that had been set months earlier.

How Nepal got there

The 2008 vote was the end of a long unravelling rather than a sudden event. Several developments made it possible:

| Year | Event | | --- | --- | | 1996–2006 | A Maoist civil war destabilised the country | | 2001 | The royal massacre killed King Birendra and eight other royals | | 2005 | King Gyanendra seized absolute power, dismissing the government | | 2006 | The People's Movement forced him to restore parliament | | 2008 | Constituent Assembly elections led to the republic on 28 May |

King Gyanendra's decision to take direct power in February 2005 proved especially costly: it pushed Nepal's mainstream parties into an alliance with the Maoist rebels. The resulting 2006 People's Movement stripped the crown of its powers, the Maoist war ended with a peace accord later that year, and elections to a Constituent Assembly were held on 10 April 2008. That assembly's first act, weeks later, was to end the monarchy. The political turbulence of the republic has continued since, including the events covered in our piece on the September 2025 protests.

What happened to the king

The last king, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, accepted the decision without resistance. He was given a short period to vacate the royal residence and left the Narayanhiti Palace on 11 June 2008; the palace was later converted into a public museum. Gyanendra remained in Nepal as an ordinary citizen. You can read more about him and the wider royal line in our guides to the king of Nepal and Nepal monarchy.

Why the date matters

The end of the monarchy in 2008 is one of the defining dates in modern Nepali history, on a par with the unification of the country in the 18th century and the fall of the Rana regime in 1951. It marked the close of the world's last Hindu kingdom and the start of a republican experiment that is still young. Because the question "when did Nepal abolish the monarchy" comes up so often, it is worth fixing the single answer firmly in mind: 28 May 2008, by a Constituent Assembly vote of 560 to 4.

Nepal after the monarchy

Since 28 May 2008, Nepal has been a federal democratic republic, with an elected president as head of state and a prime minister leading the government. The country adopted a new constitution in 2015 and has since been governed by elected leaders rather than a crown — figures such as KP Sharma Oli and Balen Shah. For travellers, the royal past is now something you visit rather than something you live under: the former palace museum, the old Kathmandu Durbar Square, and the wider story of Nepali culture all carry echoes of the kingdom that ended in 2008.

Sources

• Kingdom of Nepal — Wikipedia
• 2008 Nepalese Constituent Assembly election — Wikipedia
• Nepal abolishes monarchy — Al Jazeera
• Gyanendra — Britannica
• Shah dynasty — Wikipedia