In 1996 , the Communist Party of Nepal started a violent bid to replace the royal parliamentary system with a people 's republic . This led to the long Nepali Civil War and more than 12,000 deaths . On 1 June 2001 , there was a massacre in the royal palace . King Birendra , Queen Aishwarya and seven other members of the royal family were killed . The alleged perpetrator Crown Prince Dipendra , who allegedly committed suicide shortly thereafter , was briefly declared king for three days while he was in coma . Following the carnage , King Birendra 's brother Gyanendra inherited the throne . On 1 February 2005 , King Gyanendra dismissed the elected government and legislature , assuming full executive powers to quash the violent Maoist movement . But this initiative was unsuccessful because a stalemate had developed in which the Maoists were firmly entrenched in large expanses of countryside but could not yet dislodge the military from numerous towns and the largest cities . In September 2005 , the Maoists declared a three-month unilateral ceasefire to negotiate
massacre in the royal palace
Nepalese royal massacre
Nepal