In 1846 Jang Bahadur Rana, a young and ambitious minor aristocrat, was appointed Prime Minister of Nepal. He supressed the power and authority of the monarchy and became the absolute ruler of Nepal. He made the prime ministership hereditary within the Rana family which continued to rule for the next 104 years.

King Surendra, son of King Rajendra whom he deposed and succeeded in 1847. Died 1881.

Soldiers on parade in Kathmandu prior to leaving for the war with Tibet. 1855.

Nepalese troops on parade before departing to fight the uprising in northern India against British rule. 1857.

Kaski, western Nepal, was the principal seat of the estates of Kaski and Lamjung, the personal fief of the Rana prime ministers of Nepal. c1870.

The Prince of Wales, later the King-Emperor Edward VII, with Prime Minister Jang Bahadur (wearing a sombrero) on shikar in the Terai. February 1876.

King Prithvi Bir upon his accession to the throne of Nepal in 1881 at the age of five.

King Prithvi Bir with his third and fourth queens, Kirti Divyeshwari and Durga Divyeshwari, both daughters of Prime Minister Bir Shumsher Rana. c1895.

She was a vain and domineering woman whose interference in the affairs of state contributed substantially to the political tensions within the Rana family that finally led to an explosive coup d’état against her husband and his assassination.

Prime Minister Dev Shumsher Rana’s formal procession through the streets of Kathmandu following his investiture as maharaja of Kaski and Lamjung. March 1901. His brothers ousted him in a coup d’état three months later.

The total number of men who left Nepal for military service exceeded 200,000 from a population of five million.

In 1951 King Tribhuvan precipitated the collapse of Rana rule and the restoration of the power of the monarchy.