Ex-king eager to live as commoner

Nepal's deposed King Gyanendra is eager to live as a common citizen, the government said yesterday, after their first meeting since the monarchy was abolished last week.

While political parties squabbled over the key posts of president and prime minister in the world's newest republic, the former king appeared reconciled to the end of his family's 239-year-old royal dynasty and preparing to move out of the palace.

"I found him eager to live like a common citizen," Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with the former monarch.