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Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuck (or Deb Nagpo) (Dzongkha: , Wylie: o rgyan dbang phyug; 1862-1926) was the...

Gongsa Ugyen Wangchuck (or Deb Nagpo) (Dzongkha: , Wylie: o rgyan dbang phyug; 1862-1926) was the first Maharaja of Bhutan from 1907 to 1926. He was born in 1862 to Jigme Namgyal, Penlop (governor) of Trongsa and Ashi Pema Choki. He succeeded the father as Penlop of Trongsa. From his power base in central Bhutan, Ugyen Wangchuck defeated his political enemies and united the country following several civil wars and rebellions in 1882–1885. In what was an epochal year for the country, in 1907 Ugyen Wangchuck was unanimously chosen as the hereditary monarch of the country by the people at Punakha, the Capital of Bhutan at the time. The British (for Bhutan was then part of British India) recognised him as the Maharaja of Bhutan with the style of Highness, and granted him a permanent salute of 15 guns in 1911. For his services in mediating between the British and Tibetans during the Younghusband Expedition to Lhasa, Tibet, he was knighted by the British in 1904. He was appointed Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE) in the 1921 New Year Honours, having already been appointed Knight Commander (KCIE) in 1904.