According to the Hindu Religion, Kings are the Incarnation of the God Vishnu

His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev was born 7 July 1947 in Kathmandu to His Majesty King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah (1920-1972) and Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Indra Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah. In 1950, King Gyanendra's Grandfather, King Tribhuvan fled to India and Gyanendra was left in the hands of the Ranas, a family of hereditary prime ministers who used the royal family as figureheads. The Rana Prime Minister, Mohan Sumshere, crowned the young Gyanendra as the new infant King.

Four months later, Tribhuvan returned to Nepal and overthrew the Rana Family power with the support of India. Gyanendra, at just four years old, abdicated the throne in order to restore his Grandfather’s reign over Nepal’s Monarchy. In 1955, Gyanendra's father, King Mahendra, succeeded Tribhuvan as the new King of Nepal. An older Gyanendra became a student at St. Joseph’s College in Darjeeling, India and graduated from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu in 1969. Upon graduating, Gyanendra developed his own business interests, including a hotel in Kathmandu, a tea estate in eastern Nepal, and a cigarette factory. He is also a leading conservationist, having served as the Chairman of the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation from 1982 until 2001. He is an Honorary Member of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature and founded the 1001-Nature Trust in 1986.

King Mahendra ordered his three sons, Birendra, Gyanendra, and Dhirendra, to marry three sisters of a Rana family so that the current peace between the Rana and Shah Dynasties could continue. Over the course of 105 years, these two elite Nepali families intermarried so frequently that their genealogies have become closely intertwined. Gyanendra married Her Majesty Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah in 1970 and they had one son named Paras and a daughter named Prerana. Crown Prince Paras, however, is one of the most hated men in Nepal. In fact, King Gyanendra waited five months after his own coronation in 2001 to announce his son as the heir to the Himalayan Kingdom. The proclamation was never even reported because a holiday had closed the country’s newspapers. Paras allegedly killed a popular singer while he was drunk at the wheel of his car. Over half a million Nepalese signed a petition requesting that Paras be prosecuted but Nepali royals cannot be prosecuted without the King’s permission and therefore, Paras has never faced trial.

After the death of King Mahendra, Gyanendra become the trusted advisor to his older brother, the late King Birendra. King Gyanendra always believed in an absolute monarchy while Birendra had agreed to give up his absolute power in favor of a constitutional monarchy. Gyanendra was wholly against the idea of a constitutional monarchy and the two brothers had a falling out in 1990. King Gyanendra has devoted most of his life to preserving the absolute power of Nepal’s monarchy and the death of King Birendra and his family in the Royal Massacre of 2001 resulted in Gyanendra’s immediate ascension to the throne. During his coronation on 4 June 2001, however, there were riots in the streets of Kathmandu and the new King’s carriage had to be guarded by the army. Only the King of Nepal can give permission to deploy the Royal Nepalese Army and while King Birendra never utilized this power, Gyanendra dispatched the army to fight the Maoist rebels in 2001. King Gyanendra also dismissed the Nepali Government twice in three years, most recently on 1 February 2005.

As a member of Nepal’s royal family, King Gyanendra has performed many royal duties. He attended the wedding of The Prince of Wales of the United Kingdom in 1981 and was present at the funeral of Yugoslavia’s President Josip Broz Tito in 1980. Gyanendra has visited many countries, including India, Pakistan, China, Denmark, Australia, United States of America, and Spain. He currently resides at the Narayanhity Royal Palace in Kathmandu.