Nepal's royal family; revered and reserved

King Birendra was generally seen as a benevolent monarch

By CNN's Craig Francis

(CNN) -- Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries, is a constitutional monarchy.

The royal family is widely revered with many believing the king to be the reincarnation of the Hindu god, Vishnu.

Although the slain King Birendra ceded absolute power in 1990, he maintained popularity amongst the local population, as evidenced by his birthday celebrations last December, when schools and government offices were closed and hundreds of people lined the streets to pay their respects.

The royal couple were married in February 1971. Their first child, Dipendra, was born on June 27, 1971.

Two years after marrying, King Birendra was crowned to the throne on January 31, 1972 as a result of the sudden death of his father, King Mahendra

He was the latest monarch in the Shah dynasty, which has held the throne since the mid-1700s.

The Harvard-educated King Birendra will go down in history as a monarch who led Nepal through changing political times. He was not known to directly interfere in politics, but had great influence and prime ministers tended to count on him for support.

He inherited a political system in which the king held considerable autocratic powers and political parties were banned.

Although reforms in the 1950s began to move the kingdom toward a democratic political system, the crown dissolved Parliament in 1960 and subsequently banned political parties.

Nepal became a constitutional monarchy with the constitution of 1962, effectively giving the king autocratic control over a multi-tiered system of local councils, known as 'panchayets'.

In the 1980s, political restrictions were eased, and organizations such as the Nepali Congress Party, the Communist Party of Nepal, numerous small left-leaning student groups, and several radical Nepalese anti-monarchist groups were allowed to operate more or less openly.

Political parties, however, were not again legalized until 1990, when nationwide unrest forced King Birendra to accept the formation of a multiparty parliamentary system. A new constitution forged in 1990 greatly reduced the power of the monarchy, with the remaining the head of state but effectivlely reduced to a figurehead role.