The elusive Bhutanese

A Bhutanese parade, 2008. Very Indian with a touch of Thai

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Love the band uniform. I'm not even going to try and replicate that

Beautiful! I think the Indonesian Army also does the practice of cutting sleeves short to make short sleeves then having it hemmed up to look like it's a longsleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up very neatly.

Regarding Bhutan, during the 1930s to WWII era was it a protectorate of the British whose defence and foreign policy was handled by the U.K./its British Indian forces? Or was it a completely independent country back then with its own military and it just happened to be friendly foreign policy-wise with the British Empire?

Billy Paul wrote:Regarding Bhutan, during the 1930s to WWII era was it a protectorate of the British whose defence and foreign policy was handled by the U.K./its British Indian forces? Or was it a completely independent country back then with its own military and it just happened to be friendly foreign policy-wise with the British Empire?

According to the 1947 Encyclopedia Britannica World Atlas, Bhutan was an independent country with no army other than castle guards. The army wasn't established until 1962.

Hi Guys,
First of all thanks to Sean for posting my latest illustration, should be able to do it myself shortly.

Drawing is done from information from two photos I found in my albums, both taken in the mid 1980's. One by a tourist for me and one from a TV Travel documentary. Both show the only traffic police duty location in the entire country, Thimphu City, the capital of Bhutan. The White gloves and Belt are ONLY used by police on Traffic Duty.

The Details;
Chain hanging from the right shoulder strap button holds a traffic whistle, of the 'ACME THUNDERER' style, kept in the right trouser pocket.
Lanyard around the left shoulder is made of twisted cotton cord in the National colours. Not sure what it holds but has a double loop at the end and stretches at least down to allow it to be put into the trouser pocket.
Breast Badge worn over the left pocket shows an image in full colour of 'His Majesty the King of Bhutan' wearing the famous 'Raven Crown'. There is lettering in the white surround but I have no idea what it reads. Every policeman regardless of rank wears this badge. It may be printed plastic or paper with plastic coating, like a pop group button badge or a convention badge in the USA.
Belt Buckle is chrome metal with an indent in the centre with raised lettering which may read 'ROYAL BHUTAN POLICE' or possibly refer to the Traffic Unit if the buckle is unique to this belt. I don't have a photo of the normal duty Black belt to compare it with.
Beret Badge and shoulder Titles are chrome metal.
Shirt Buttons are chrome metal and may have the force crest in the centre.

Insignias are as follows. Actual insignias are shown from a police insignia collection.
Officers Cap badge and arm patches are hand embroidered using coloured threads and wire on Red felt background. Both patches are padded, the curved title reads 'ROYAL BHUTAN POLICE' and the shield has the Full Coat of Arms of the Country.
O/R's Beret badge and shoulder titles are chrome metal.
Rank Arm patches are both unique in design and constrcution. The White parts are made of plastic with embossed cross hatching ,sewn onto a Black Felt shaped and padded background, the Red 'mouth' shape is also felt.

I am not sure of the correct rank titles but as they have a 'Superintendent' rank, I've gone with a British system.
A Constable has no rank insignia,
Senior Constable (possibly Lance Corporal), Corporal, Sergeant. as shown.
Inspector - two pips.
Chief Inspector - Three pips.
Superintendent - 'Raven Crown' design badge.
Chief Superintendent - ' Raven Crown' design badge over a Pip.
After this I have no idea. I am working on finding out the other details to create a rank chart and I have more info on their current uniforms so will do something shortly on that to add to this.

Any questions or comments always welcomed ,post them here.

Best Regards,
Les

Hi les
Another fine illustration.
Regards
WF

Hi WF,
Thanks.
Anything to add with regards to their rank structure ?

Best Regards,
Les

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Hi Guys,
I'm hoping this works out O.k. with my first image posting by myself. If it doesn't work I'll get Sean to post it.

Took me most of the day but here is the current Rank insignias and structure of the ROYAL BHUTAN POLICE. All ranks are shown with placement on the uniform mentioned.

Each item is a photo of the real insignias, so there is some reflection on some surfaces. I thought about doing them as drawings but it would have taken much longer to produce, I think this works out O.K. and would appreciate any comments as this is the first rank chart I have done.

The Royal Bhutan Police are subordinate to the Army and the rank of Colonel is the highest rank of the Police in the day to day running of the force ,but the Military ranks above this are the Officers in Charge for all other concerns.

Best Regards,
Les

Thanks for the info Les! Good job on finding the rank insignia

Great job les,
Would the military in charge have any additional insignia on the uniform to show their connection to the police?
The way it seems it's a little like say a service corps within the military structure, officers gaining rank up to a point required to operate and no further within a said district.
Regards
WF

Hi WF,
From what I can find out the Police were formed from Army personell initially and as the years have gone by they have been more organised into a conventional Police force. However ultimate command has never left the Military, so ranks above Colonel, are Army Officers who command ,like you say, as a corps of the Army.

These Army Officers wear exactly the same uniform as the rest of the Army. No special Police insignias.

Some additional info:
Officer ranks within the Police are mainly graduates or of a higher educational qualification than those joining at the ranks of Constable. They are trained differently as an officer class and it is those officer candidates that get specialist training from around the world to ensure that they are up to date with all the modern techniques of law enforcement.

At some point the insignia has been standardised to ONLY one cap badge ,shoulder title and shield patch, for everyone. So most of what is shown on my uniform illustration is discontinued between the mid 1980's and 2009, a bit more research is needed to work out when this happened, unless of course anyone out there on the forum knows.

The cloth shoulder title and shield have some variance to them as they appear to be locally made, so those shown on the rank chart should be taken as a design and not the ONLY form that these items are found in. Examples of the shoulder title show them with and without the thread border, some are rigid and stick out when attached to the sleeve and some are flexible to follow the curve of the arm, so pretty much what ever hand made style the company went with at the time of the order. These variants are quite common with insignias made in India and Pakistan .

I have details of the current uniforms so may get round to doing some illustrations of them, there are a few significant changes.

Hope this answers your question. I don't have details for the ranks of the military as I am more interetsed in Police subjects, I'm sure Sean can help you out if you need that info.

Best Regards,
Les

A mine of information les, more than answered.
Never really bothered about the police uniforms before, up until recently very little seems to have changed.
The Bhutan system is the perfect solution for a military state, total control.
Thanks again for the information.
Regards
WF

wfrad wrote:A mine of information les, more than answered.
Never really bothered about the police uniforms before, up until recently very little seems to have changed.
The Bhutan system is the perfect solution for a military state, total control.
Thanks again for the information.
Regards
WF

Actually they are an absolute monarchy ... the King recently decided to ban all tobacco products and also only just recently (within the last 3 or 4 years) allowed private ownership of TVs and VCR and DVD players.

HI Chris,
Yes I know it's a monarchy, sorry I should have made it more clear.
It’s the perfect system for absolute power.
When you get down to it an absolute monarchy and a military state have a considerably amount in common.
Both are run though the power of the state, military and civil, with the only real difference being the guy in charge, one's a King the other a Dictator.
Regards
WF

ChrisF202 wrote:

wfrad wrote:A mine of information les, more than answered.
Never really bothered about the police uniforms before, up until recently very little seems to have changed.
The Bhutan system is the perfect solution for a military state, total control.
Thanks again for the information.
Regards
WF

Actually they are an absolute monarchy ... the King recently decided to ban all tobacco products and also only just recently (within the last 3 or 4 years) allowed private ownership of TVs and VCR and DVD players.

Are there even any TV stations there? Of course I suppose those who can afford them will be wanting satellite dishes. And of course they can watch TV online.

Private TV ownership was only allowed in 1999