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Shyam BhatiaIndia Abroad Correspondent in London
The British media has risked the displeasure of Nepal's royal family by describing newly crowned King Gyanendra's son and likely heir as a killer and a womanising playboy.
The death of King Birendra and other members of the royal family, allegedly at the hands of Crown Prince Dipendra last Friday, has been front-page news in most British newspapers, which have now turned their attention to the lingering unrest on the streets of Kathmandu.
The deep unpopularity of Gyanendra's son, Prince Paras Shah, is reflected throughout the print media.
"Crown Prince Paras Shah, 30, is said to be a womanising playboy who has killed two people and beaten up several police officers, but never been punished," says a full-page report in Tuesday's edition of the Daily Mail.
"His thuggery has included breaking into a police post in front of the royal palace after a friend was arrested for crashing into a motorbike rider.
"Allegedly drunk after attending a disco, the prince beat up a policeman and demanded [that] his friend be released. That same year, 1999, he struck a police inspector with the butt of an automatic machine-gun after being stopped for speeding.
"Witnesses said he picked up the illegal weapon from the passenger seat and told the inspector, 'I am Paras; I'll blow you all away' before moving the machine-gun menacingly."
The Mail quotes a Nepalese demonstrator as saying, "I fear there are many troubled days ahead now that Paras has become crown prince. We don't want him. We will look to his father to do something about this. If he would disown him, then he would have our immediate respect."
A report in The Guardian from the Nepalese capital said rumours have been swirling through Kathmandu "implicating the new king and his unpopular son, Paras, in the deaths" of King Birendra and other members of the royal family.
"King Gyanendra was outside Kathmandu at the time of the murders, but his son was at the dinner table and escaped unhurt."
The Times reports public suspicions about the new king and says, "The public's feelings about his only son, Prince Paras, are clear. They hate him, distrust him and fear that now [that] he is heir to the throne he will be free to do what he wants.
"Western diplomats say that the Prince has long abused laws protecting royals from prosecution... He is suspected of involvement in the death last year of Praveen Gurung, a popular musician, who was run over and killed while riding his bicycle home from a club where the two had argued.
"Accounts of his drunkenness and boorish behaviour are legion. He is said to have struck a policeman last year with the butt of an automatic weapon after being stopped for alleged drink-driving."
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