The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Nepal threatens to plunge into civil war after Crown Prince Dipendra shot dead the king and queen and six other royals in a violent row over his choice of bride.
The portrayal by the Prime Minister, Mr Girija Prasad Koirala, of the killings as accidental signals the government's desperate attempts to hold the country together. Most Nepalese newspapers yesterday published photographs and biographies lauding Prince Dipendra, who was last night critically ill in hospital, and proclaimed him the new king.
Prince Dipendra, who as a schoolboy at Eton earned the nickname Dippy and a reputation for wild living, was last night in a coma on a ventilator in Kathmandu's military hospital.
During an elaborate cremation ceremony for the king and queen by the Bagmati river on Saturday Mr Koirala was stoned in his car by a large crowd demanding his resignation, an early indication of the political crisis which awaits.
After pro-democracy protests in 1990 the king gave up his absolute powers and worked to create a constitutional monarchy under which politicians were given a much wider role.
Now in the past year the mountainous country has been shaken by an increasingly violent Maoist insurgency, whose supporters have attacked police and vowed to topple the monarchy. More than 1,670 people have died since the campaign began in 1996 in the kingdom of 23 million.
Most people in Kathmandu knew Prince Dipendra (29) wanted to marry his long-time girlfriend, Ms Devyani Rana, the daughter of a former foreign and finance minister in one of the country's most aristocratic families. But his stern mother, Queen Aishwarya, was against the marriage. She was concerned that Ms Devyani's family had Indian relations and wanted her son instead to marry the daughter of another family from the aristocratic Rana clan.
Many believe the queen, who was from the Rana clan, wielded the real power behind the throne and encouraged her husband to crush the pro-democracy protests in 1990. She was also thought to be desperately ambitious for her son to take over soon as king and resist the growing power of the politicians.
As King Birendra, himself nicknamed Nipple at Eton, grew older and began to suffer a heart problem he gave his son more responsibility.
"Guns were his hobby," said one source close to the family.
For his part Mr Koirala will be keen to rebuild his battered reputation. Already he is accused of taking large kickbacks in a deal to lease a Boeing 767 for the Royal Nepal Airlines and is struggling to hold together his ruling party.
Some among the intensely superstitious Nepalese will not be surprised at the deaths. According to legend, in 1768 the founder of the ruling Shah dynasty, King Prithivi Narayan Shah, was told by a Hindu god disguised as a holy sage that he was too proud and that his dynasty would fall 10 generations after his rule. Nepal is 90 per cent Hindu and five per cent Buddhist.