However, Dipendra's parents, and especially his mother Aishwarya Rajya Lakshmi Devi Shah (born Rana), opposed the marriage.

[4][5] According to an article in The New Yorker on 30 July 2001 and other published reports, the refusal of Dipendra's parents to consent to this marriage was the cause of the massacre of the royal family in Nepal.

[6] However, a 2009 report based on an interview with his cousin Paras Shah suggested that there may have been other reasons as well,[7] with other theories alleging that Dipendra was unhappy with the country's shift from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy, and that too much power had been given away following the 1990 People's Movement.

[6] A book, Maile Dekheko Darbar, by the former Secretary to King Birendra suggests that Dipendra may have had significant personality problems.

Aishvarya is the grandson of former Indian Human Resources Minister Arjun Singh, a royal from the state of Churhat Thikana.