Summary King Thibaw's reign ended in 1885 with his defeat by British colonial forces.
President Thein Sein will this weekend become the first of Myanmar's leaders to visit the tomb of his country's last king, who was exiled to India more than a century ago, officials said Friday.
King Thibaw's reign ended in 1885 with his defeat by British colonial forces, who sent him and his family into exile in the Indian seaside city of Ratnagiri, where he died and was buried.
Some descendants of the last monarch still reside in the area, which Thein Sein will visit on Saturday morning after meetings on Friday in New Delhi and Mumbai.
"The president will be the first leader to visit the late king Thibaw's graveyard," a government official in Myanmar told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
He said the trip by helicopter from Mumbai, about 330 kilometres (205 miles) from Ratnagiri, was part of "good diplomatic relations" with India.
The president will pay homage at the tomb at 9:00 am (0330 GMT) on Saturday and also plans to meet the king's descendants, Ratnagiri's district administrator R.R. Jadhav said.
Thibaw and his wife Supayalat were allowed an impressive residence in exile with staff and a car -- although they could not venture far beyond the house, Thant Myint-U wrote in "The River of Lost Footsteps", a history of Myanmar.
Thibaw died aged 57 in 1916, shortly after a heart attack when one of his daughters eloped with a man he found unsuitable.
His defeat 31 years earlier at the hands of the British marked the end of the monarchy in Myanmar, which remained part of the British empire until 1948.
The country came under military rule in 1962, with subsequent army leaders evoking the power of pre-colonial kings.
In 2005, former head of state Than Shwe suddenly shifted the capital -- a habit of earlier rulers -- from Yangon to Naypyidaw, meaning "abode of kings".
In a tale mirroring Thibaw's fate, India's last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled by the British to Yangon in Myanmar, where he died in 1862 aged 87 and was buried.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited his tomb on a landmark visit to Myanmar earlier this year.
His government is planning to take up major renovation of Thibaw's run-down grave, Myanmar's Eleven Media website reported on Wednesday, citing discussions between the two countries in Mandalay this month.
