A special session of Nepal's parliament voted on Wednesday to declare the Himalayan kingdom a federal republic, ending a 239-year-old monarchy. King Gyanendra will now have to vacate his palace and become an 'ordinary citizen.'
"I found him eager to live like a common citizen," Krishna Prasad Sitaula told reporters after a meeting with the deposed king.
It is the responsibility of the government to provide security to Gyanendra and his family after he leaves the palace, the minister added.
There are plans to turn the palace into a museum.
King Gyanendra came to the throne in 2001 after his brother King Birendra, along with almost the entire royal family, were shot dead by Crown Prince Dipendra.
Dipendra then officially ruled Nepal, albeit while in a coma, for three days before dying from gunshot wounds inflicted during the attack. Gyanendra was next in line, and was suspected by many ordinary Nepalese of having organized the massacre.
In April 2006 pro-democracy mass street protests forced the king to abandon direct rule and restore parliament. The deal brought peace to Nepal after 10 years of a brutal civil war which had left some 13,000 people dead.
