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A SEA OF black-clad mourners massed across Bangkok’s historic heart today as funeral rituals began for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a revered monarch whose passing after a seven-decade reign left Thailand bereft of its only unifying figure.
As dawn broke an estimated 200,000 Thais had gathered around the Grand Palace to bid an emotional farewell to a monarch known as “father of the nation”, silently packing the pavements, many clutching portraits of the beloved late king.
The golden spires of a spectacular €75 million cremation site, purpose-built for the funeral, were bathed in light as Bhumibol’s son and heir, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, joined Buddhist monks to start a day of sombre processions, colourful pageantry and religious ceremony.
Vajiralongkorn will light the funeral pyre at 10pm (3pm here) as his father, Rama IX of the Chakri dynasty, is laid to rest.
The ceremony will be attended by a “Who’s Who” of Thai power — royals, generals and establishment figures — as well as scores of foreign dignitaries.
The lavish event gives the public a chance to say a final goodbye to a king who was crowned in 1950 and towered over decades of Thai history, before his death last October aged 88 seeded uncertainty in a country ruled by a divisive junta.
A brew of palace propaganda and a harsh lese majesté law burnished the king’s reputation throughout his reign.
But Bhumibol’s intimate connection with his subjects was on ready display.
Bearers in bright coloured traditional garb, flanked by pipers and drummers, carried a symbolic Royal Urn on a palanquin to a temple, an artillery-salute setting the tempo.
As the urn passed by many mourners fully prostrated on the ground, a once abolished practice brought back during Bhumibol’s reign, while others burst into tears.
“He was perfect. He helped the country and Thai people so much. Seventy million Thai people are united in their love for him,” said 65-year-old Wacharadej Tangboonlabkun, who like most Thais knew no other monarch before Bhumibol’s death.
The death of a figure of constancy in a politically combustible country has dipped the kingdom into uncertainty.
“There’s no more a father who only gave to his children,” 47-year-old mourner Kingkan Kuntavee told AFP.
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A purpose built 75m euro cremation site. I wonder could that money have been spent a little more wisely
@Nick Allen: Electronic voting machines, water billing company?
@Chad Rockett:
At least e-voting and billing for water make sense and were just badly executed.
@Nick Allen: How much did the British Royal weddings cost? What will the cost of the Queens funeral be? This man was their King for 70 years, he used his influence to help modernise Thailand over his lifetime. And the people of Thailand adored him. The Thais would consider 75 Million cheap for what he gave them over the years.
Ahh…, he’s just another plonker, this mass adoration of those born into privilege really is a sad reflection on the human condition.
@paddlingAlong: You say “he’s just another plonker”, did you know him personally? Just because you don’t like the idea of royal or wealthy dynasties doesn’t make you automatically right. He was adored and venerated for what he did for the people of Thailand during his reign. He wasn’t perfect but who is. His was a Constitutional Monarchy and even when a previous military coup offered him the chance to become an Absolute Monarch he refused the offer.
I am currently in Thailand and to say the man was revered is an understatement. Thousands of billboards, shrines etc in his honour. Thai people crying at Temples dressed in black. His successor is no where near as loved from what I can gather. Fascinating country.
@Salvatore Mazzani: It is almost a religious fervour, true. I’m currently in the jungle and the staff here at the camp are dressed in black and watching the ceremony on their phones.
@Salvatore Mazzani: When you put like that; I guess you could say it gives new meaning to the phrase cult of personality
@dave: wannabe edgelord
@Darren Tully: Dave seems like he would much prefer a more cultural holiday in Benidorm.
@Rachel Durack Murray: was In Thailand last year when he died read he made decree in 2010/12 that his son succeed him if not people said he not be allowed to succeed him as king by army generals! Enjoy Thailand lovely country to visit and holiday !
@dave: Why bother commenting if it’s that boring to you?!
The fact it is illegal to say anything negative about the King, along with regular internet monitoring and prosecution, really diminishes the actual general feeling Thai people have for their king versus propaganda by the state they have no choice but to love.
@Cathal O’hÁodhagáin: This may be hard for you to believe but the vast majority of Thais genuinely adored him. There is or was nothing forced in it. Some others in the Royal family may not have the same support but he was genuinely loved.
@Mick Jordan: Hard to take it as genuine when it is illegal to say otherwise
@Cathal O’hÁodhagáin: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-29628191
@Cathal O’hÁodhagáin: Go into any Thai home and you will find a picture of this King and or one of his predecessors. Many of them will have shrines to him. Forced adoration! I don’t think so. Much the same way many of our neighbours in Britain adore their Royal Family. I have been in small rural villages in Thailand and have seen the reverence both he and the Buddha were given in family homes. Yes their will always be those that opposed the monarchy but in Thailand with this King it was a tiny minority.
Strange and creepy.
@Colin Morris: I am curious as to why you think that.
@Mick Jordan:
Our Colin believes such reverence should only be given to Karl Marx.
This man changed Thailand some much ,he brought them trains education , he had his own army and when anything happened they would be out helping the people I was there last year they where feeding everyone who was waiting to see him
A year???? They cant get u into the ground quick enuf here.
#FreeEannaOCochlan
Thai people WAKE UP!
@Sean Conway: From what? It’s their culture and they are happy with it.
@Mick Jordan: cult
@Seamus Mc Meel: In what way? He was a Constitutional Monarch the same as the Queen is in Britain and most Brits revere their Royal Family. He helped modernise Thailand.
Say what you like but people are controlled I was there in 2015 when Thai separatists bombed two temples in Bangkok. All external media BBC etc. (usually accessible) were blocked from within Thailand to stop reporting about people actually wanting to be seperated from Royalty.
@Paul Quirke:There has been a war that has been going on in the Southern provinces with Islamic terrorists who want a separate Islamic State for over 50 years. Bombings, Assassinations, attacks on Buddhist temples and Buddhist villages. And occasionally that seeps into other parts of Thailand.
@Paul Quirke: sure so are we in the western world. You just don’t realise it Paul.
@Trevor W: you are not wrong there I guess
King Pumipon is a god to the Thai people but the truth is he was a spineless crook who never had the courage to use his influence positively. The king’s image within Thailand is based on propaganda. Lèse majesté prevents anyone from speaking negatively about the monarchy, many who dared ended up in prison.
The king implemented the Sufficiency Economy Ideology, a system that encouraged Thais to live in poverty and ignore the wealth disparity. Meanwhile he amassed a fortune and became the richest monarch in the world. He abused his influence by supporting successive coups, he supported atrocities like the Thammasat University massacre and worst still he justified it. The much touted Royal projects benefited very few people and his greatest service was to the elite who prospered unquestioned under his reign.
This man suppressed democracy, discouraged wealth dispersal, protected criminals and without his power Thailand would have achieved far more for its citizens by now. As the saying goes, love is blind.
@Wreck Tangle: Ahh yes the fake accounts making accusations. Have the courage of your convictions and use your real name.
@Mick Jordan:
I don’t understand your point. If I change my alias to something like Mick Jordan this would suddenly validate my comments? Which by the way are not accusations but well documented facts.
This King nor the current one didn’t nor doesn’t have the power to make laws. He could only try and use his influence to try change things. When he was offered total control by the Military he refused it. Sound like someone hungry for power. As for being the Wealthiest Monarch, the Sultan of Brunei, the House of Saud, the Maktoums of the UAE, The Royal family of Kuwait would leave leave the Thai Royals in the Halfpenny place. And for the Lese Majesty laws how many elected governments have there been in Thailand since 1906 yet not one single one has even thought of repealing it.
@Mick Jordan:
I never said that he was power hungry, I said he was spineless but you raise a good point – Why didn’t he take power? Probably because it is easier to act as a key ally to corrupt governments, become unimaginably wealthy and not risk losing everything in a future coup. I expect no government repealed lèse majesté because they were able to do what they wanted and have an unquestionable influencer validate their actions. Lastly he was much richer than most monarchs and in most cases considered to be the most wealthy by net worth.
@Wreck Tangle: You also claim he supported many of the Military coups. Yet he condemned the one prior the the last one and all the others before that. When the latest one occurred he was not in a position to condemn it because of his medical condition. So let’s fact check your statement. (1) He enacted law. False. He did not have the power to do so under the constitution so that would be impossible.(2) He was the Richest Monarch in the World. False. As I have shown other Monarchs are far far wealthier, the Sultan of Brunei having been declared the Richest person on the planet several times. (3) He supported Military coups. False. He condemned all but the last one for reasons already explained. He supported democraticly elected Governments. True. He modernised Thailand. True.
@Mick Jordan:
I would suggest that anyone reading this fact check your statements.
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