Two Generations,
One Extraordinary Country
1971
Arrived in Bhutan
Ugyen Wangchuck Academy
Came to help establish the school
Bhutan Society of the UK
Founder
Honorary Consul
Bhutan's first in the UK, then the UK's first in Bhutan
OBE
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Bhutan Order of Merit (Gold)
And Bhutanese citizenship
Michael Rutland OBE
My relationship with Bhutan began in 1971, when I arrived in a country which was then very different from the Bhutan that visitors encounter today.
Before coming to Bhutan, I had served as a commissioned officer in Britain’s Royal Air Force and taught Physics at Shrewsbury School and St Edward’s School, Oxford. My subsequent career also included five years as an officer in the Sultan of Oman’s Air Force during its early development, and many years in British education.
But it was Bhutan that was to become the most enduring and remarkable chapter of my life.
I originally came to help establish a school in Bhutan. The school became the Ugyen Wangchuck Academy, and my association with Bhutan, which I could never have imagined would last so long, had begun.
The country I encountered in 1971 was still largely isolated from the wider world. Roads were few, modern communications were limited and the institutions that people today take for granted were only beginning to develop. Yet Bhutan already possessed a deeply rooted identity, an extraordinary cultural inheritance and a sense of national purpose that I found fascinating.
Over the succeeding decades I had the privilege of witnessing Bhutan’s transformation, including its educational development, the growth of modern government institutions, its gradual opening to the world and the remarkable transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional democracy.
My involvement with Bhutan extended well beyond education. I founded the Bhutan Society of the United Kingdom, helping to develop friendship and understanding between two countries that then had remarkably few connections.
I subsequently served for ten years as Bhutan’s first Honorary Consul in the United Kingdom, and then, changing sides rather unusually, for another ten years as the United Kingdom’s first Honorary Consul in Bhutan.
In recognition of my work for British-Bhutanese relations, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appointed me an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. His Majesty the Fifth King of Bhutan honoured me with the Bhutan Order of Merit (Gold), while His Majesty the Fourth King granted me Bhutanese citizenship, a distinction of which I am particularly proud.
I have known Bhutan as a teacher, as a friend of the country, as a diplomat, as a resident and, above all, as someone whose life has become deeply entwined with its people.
Yet I would not claim to understand everything about Bhutan. Indeed, one of the attractions of the country is that, even after more than half a century, it still has the capacity to surprise me.
That is part of what I hope to share with our visitors.
Kesang Wangchuk
My son Kesang brings to Magical Kingdom Tours a very different and equally valuable experience.
Kesang became my legally adopted Bhutanese son more than thirty years ago, and we now live together with his family just outside Thimphu.
He studied computing in England around thirty-five years ago, at a time when computers were virtually unknown in Bhutan. Returning home, he worked in the Ministry of Planning and remembers the arrival of the first computers in the country. As he recalls with amusement, there was a time when he was one of the very few people in Bhutan who actually knew how to switch one on!
He subsequently moved into broadcasting, joining the newly created Bhutanese television service as a graphic designer. He became one of the country’s early English-language television newsreaders and later a television producer.
For several years he worked with me in the Royal Tutorial Project, helping produce more than one hundred educational television programmes.
His professional life has therefore followed many of the most interesting developments of modern Bhutan: the arrival of computing, the development of television, educational innovation and the transformation of communications.
Today Kesang devotes his time to managing Magical Kingdom Tours with me, and playing archery, the national sport.
His knowledge of Bhutanese society, its people and its institutions complements my own long experience. Together we believe we can help visitors see the country through more than one pair of eyes.
Our Family Home
Our home near Thimphu is more than our residence. It is also part of the personal character of Magical Kingdom Tours.
We enjoy welcoming our visitors into a family setting where conversation can continue beyond the day’s sightseeing. Here, over a meal, a cup of tea, or a glass of wine we can discuss the places you have visited, answer questions and perhaps explore aspects of Bhutan that are not easily explained in a guidebook.
Very often these informal conversations become some of the most memorable moments of a journey.
We look forward to welcoming you.