Tribhuvan of Nepal
King of Nepal (1906-1955)

Shree Panch Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah (30 June 1906 – 13 March 1955), was King of Nepal from 1911 until his death in 1955, excluding a brief period of exile between November 1950 and January 1951.
Born in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, he ascended to the throne at the age of five, upon the death of his father, Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah, and was crowned on 20 February 1913 at the Nasal Chowk, Hanuman Dhoka Palace in Kathmandu, with his mother acting as regent. At the time of his coronation, the position of monarch was largely ceremonial, with the Rana dynasty exercising de facto power.
Personal life
Tribhuvan had tattoos from his neck to the ankles, including a snake on the biceps of the right arm and on his body, images of ferns, flowers and peacock feathers. Green was his favorite color. Many of his ornaments, keys, gifts, clothes had the word "T" inscribed on them. He frequently ordered by mail through mail order catalogs. He smoked Lucky Strike cigarettes.
Tribhuvan was summoned to Singha Durbar every Thursday and kept waiting for hours for a visit with the Rana Prime Minister.
Family
Tribhuvan was born on 30 June 1906 to Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah and Divyeshwari Lakshmi Devi Shah.
The public source identifies “Tribhuvan of Nepal” as king of Nepal (1906-1955). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tribhuvan, Nepal and King.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q381928. VIAF identifies the subject as 13755659. The Library of Congress control number is n85225743. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1906, 1955, 1911 and 1950.
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This entry incorporates text from “Tribhuvan of Nepal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.