On Sunday, hundreds of people burned tires in the center of Katmandu, the capital, demanding to know the truth behind the killings. Three other members of the royal family also were injured. The shots rang out while the royal family was gathered for dinner Friday night to discuss the wedding of Dipendra. Sources close to the family said the prince wished to marry the daughter of a former government minister who is a member of the aristocratic Rana family, which ruled Nepal until 1951. On the streets of Katmandu on Sunday, the public doubted that the acting King's explanation that the killings had been accidental.
Monarchs here have little formal power in Nepal, but public criticism is taboo.
Birendra was remembered Sunday as a monarch who had used his influence to improve things for this highly impoverished, predominantly Hindu nation which only opened to the outside world a half-century ago. E-mail this story to a friend.