Mangkunegaran Leader Speaks About Happiness in Enthronement Anniversary

RRI.CO.ID, Surakarta – The Mangkunegaran, a Javanese principality based in Surakarta, Central Java, on Tuesday, 27 January 2026, marked four years since the accession of its millennial leader, Mangkunegara X (read: Mangkunegara the Tenth). In his brief speech, the 28-year-old duke spoke extensively about the meaning of happiness.

The enthronement anniversary, known as tingalan jumenengan, featured several performances, including a traditional soldiers march and the sacred Bedhaya Anglir Mendhung dance. Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka was seen attending the event, wearing Javanese attire.

“Thank you for the hopes and support that have accompanied Mangkunegaran’s journey over these four years - a journey filled with challenges as well as achievements that has brought us together today in gratitude and togetherness,” he said in his remarks, as quoted from Mangkunegaran’s social media.

Mangkunegara X believes that happiness is not something to be pursued hastily. He said happiness is something to be lived as a practice.

“It is not born solely from achievement, but from the way people cultivate their inner selves, act with clarity, and give meaning to their life journey day by day,” he said at the event, held in the seat of principality of Pura Mangkunegaran.

Mangkunegara X stated that happiness begins with awareness of oneself, of others, and of the environment. According to him, from a living awareness, kindness is no longer merely an outward habit, but a reflection of a conscious heart.

“With awareness, human beings can fully present in the moment, so that thought, feeling, and action move in harmony, along with responsibility toward shared life,” he said.

At the end of his speech, he said that happiness ultimately does not exist in isolation. For him, happiness grows in togetherness, is nurtured through simplicity, and safeguarded through shared awareness.

“May Mangkunegaran be not merely a physical container, not just buildings and walls, but a place where we can truly feel what the meaning of home really is,” he said.

Born in 1997, Mangkunegara X began leading the principality in 2022, succeeding his father, who passed away the previous year. He once went viral for ascending the throne at a young age—just 24 years old.

Mangkunegaran is one of the few pre-independence kingdoms that still endure in modern Indonesia. It was established in 1757, following the resistance of Raden Mas Said or Prince Sambernyawa against the Dutch and Pakubuwana III, the ruler of the Surakarta Sunanate.