Asian Royals & Princes Birthdays

Each country reflects its own civilizational tradition. Japan keeps the title Emperor (Tennō), the only one still in use anywhere in the world. Thailand, Cambodia, Bhutan and Malaysia use King, with Bhutan's monarch styled Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King). Brunei has a Sultan, while Malaysia's federal monarch carries the unique title Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The app stores each title in the profile so it appears correctly when you import the card.

Malaysia is the world's only federal elective monarchy. Nine of the country's thirteen states have hereditary rulers, and every five years they elect one of their own to serve as the federal King, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The current king is Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, who took office in early 2024 as the seventeenth Agong since independence.

Voluntary abdication has become a distinctly Asian royal tradition. King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia stepped down in 2004 in favor of his son Sihamoni. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan abdicated in 2006 to entrust the country's transition to constitutional democracy to his son. And Emperor Akihito of Japan abdicated in 2019, becoming the first Japanese emperor to do so in two centuries. In each case the predecessor remains a respected national figure rather than a contender for the throne, a contrast with the lifelong reigns common in European and Arab monarchies.