Party boy prince 'Dippy' had a sullen streak

Mystery still surrounds the deaths of Nepal's King Dipendra and his immediate family

By staff and wire reports

KATMANDU, Nepal -- He was known as a party boy with a sullen streak.

Dippy, who until Friday was the Eton-educated Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal, had a weakness for helicopters, fast cars and poetry.

Dubbed Dippy by his former schoolmates after the first three letters of his name, he was well liked and a good student.

How he came to be mortally wounded, then proclaimed king while lying in a coma, only to die shortly afterwards -- all within the space of 72 hours -- will be the subject of great scrutiny for years to come.

Dipendra was almost certainly unaware he had succeeded his father as Nepal's reigning monarch, if only for a mere 48 hours.

Lying mortally wounded in a military hospital, with his life slipping away, he was also unable to explain what happened on Friday night, when several of his family members were blown away as they sat eating dinner.

Despite being the prime suspect in the massacre of his father King Birendra, Queen Aiswarya and six other relatives, Dipendra was named king on Saturday.

His uncle, Prince Gyanendra, was named as caretaker king due to Dipendra's fading health. After Dipendra's death early on Monday morning, Gyanendra was proclaimed the new king.

He immediately promised to set about finding out what caused the death of most of his immediate relatives.

Two theories

Two main theories now exist to explain the killings. The first, which comes from senior palace officials, is that Dipendra himself shot the royals during a family dinner then turned the gun on himself. He was reportedly upset at being denied his choice of bride.

The second, which comes from Gyanendra himself, is that an assault rifle "exploded" in a fatal accident that ultimately killed all present.

'Dippy' had a passion for fast cars, helicopters and poetry

As a question marks hang over the events of the past four days, people who knew Dipendra have expressed shock at his tragic demise.

"Dippy was a sweet, kind-natured boy without the airs and graces one might expect," recalled Oliver Poole of his shared time at Eton with the prince.

"He had a good sense of humour and met everyone with a grin and a warm welcome," Poole wrote in London's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

Poole and several other school friends remembered the prince kept in his room a loaded revolver, believed to have been given to him by two Nepalese bodyguards who lived in a house near the school.

The prince was keen on military training in Eton's cadet corps, was not shy about showing off the revolver and knew how to use it.

The 29-year-old is remembered as being friendly and always at the top of the class. He mingled frequently with the common people and was often seen in the streets without his bodyguards.

He also holds a black belt in kung fu and never backed down from a challenge or a fight.

Dark, sullen

Some other school friends recalled a "dark," sullen character who was a loner and prone to outbursts of physical violence.

Daniel Kruger, who described the prince as "intimidating," remembers teasing him while he was doing skipping exercises in the school gymnasium.

"He lifted me off the ground by my jaw," Kruger told the Sunday Times.

Another Eton contemporary said the prince, whose dead father King Birendra also attended Eton, on occasions would suddenly run down corridors banging on students' doors.

"He did have this slightly mad streak. You didn't want to get on his bad side," the unnamed former student told the Sunday Times.

While the prince was at Eton he had a minor brush with authorities when he was caught selling liquor to other students.

"It was usual for him to have bottles of illegal booze around him, brought in, many of us believed, by his bodyguards," Poole said.

Discipline

The prince was fined eight pounds ($10), confined to his room for several days, and earned bold headlines in Britain's tabloid press.

At a banquet during Prince Charles' visit to Nepal in 1998, Dipendra praised Eton for giving him a sense of "fair play and discipline."

After Eton, he returned to Katmandu for further studies at Tribhuwan University. He later joined the Royal Nepal Military Academy.

Dipendra was King Birendra and Queen Aiswarya's eldest child. He was the 12th generation king of the Shah dynasty whose first ruler, Prithvi Narayan, united smaller kingdoms to form modern Nepal.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.