Devotion to Kings Rama V and IX: a farangs perspective.

Have you been to Pra Thi Nang Ananta Samakhom (the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall) built during the reign of King Rama V?  I visited today and it is such a beautiful Italiantate structure with an ornate marble and fresco interior.  I recommend it to those of you who have yet to visit.

Being there today made me think about the devotion that so many people have towards Prabat Somdet Pra Chulachomklao Jao Yuu Hua, or King Chulalongkorn as he is commonly known. Have you noticed that his picture is almost as visible in shops and in houses in Thailand as that of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej?  Sometimes, I will go to pay respect to King Chulalongkorn at the statue of Kings Rama V and VI in the green grounds of Chulongkorn University.

And if you talk to Thais about King Rama V there is almost always a very real respect and devotion.  People will talk about 'Than's' achievements in both modernising and making Thailand more outward looking and also in protecting Thailand from the twin threats of French and British colonialism.  King Chulalongkorn sent many of his many children to study abroad better to understand western industrialisation and also western ways of thinking.  Thai people can tell you so much about King Chulalongkorn's legacy and achievements if you ask them.

And the devotion towards King Chulalongkorn ranks alongside Thai people's love for His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. But his Majesty King Rama IX rules in a very different era and political/social context.  King Rama V was an absolute Monarch and King Rama IX is very much a constitutional Monarch, with legislatively a much lighter hand on the national tiller.  Rama V ascended the Throne following the successful reign of King Rama IV. Rama IX ascended the Throne following an extended period of Monarchic uncertainty following the overthrow of the Absolute Monarchy by military coup in 1932, Princes Ananda and Bhumibol's upbringing overseas and the untimely tragic death of King Ananda Mahidol in 1946.

His Majesty the King returned to Bangkok for his coronation in 1950 to a Thailand with an almost omnipotent military under the Dictatorship of Field Marshall Plaek Pibulsonggram.   The military grip would only start to show some early signs of loosening upon the exile of Field Marshall Thanom in 1973.  During that period Thais will talk about His Majesty's devotion to the country and to Thai people: spending much time developing projects to support the grass roots and to support agriculture; and raising Thailand's international profile through high profile State visits with his beautiful Queen Sirikit.

In the early years of His rule, His Majesty's interventions in the big scheme of national and geo-strategic politics were circumscribed by the ever-present military. But in the hearts and minds of Thai people he continued to grow in stature.  He became an indispensable and beloved part of the national fabric.  And so His intervention's at critical moments and flash points in Thailand's history always carried weight, in 1973, 1976, 1992 and, indeed, in 2006.

Today, aged 80 years and having reigned for 61 years, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej is in an unchallenged position in terms of his moral authority and influence in Thailand.  The military now try to claim loyalty and attach their actions to His name, a big change from when His Majesty came to power.

And Thai people truly love Him.  I mean, real, every day, common and garden Thai people, rather than Ministers who try to claim referent legitimacy through the wearing of yellow.  I joined the lunch table of three Thai friends on 6 December to find them talking reverently about His Majesty's birthday speech.  There was nothing fake nor any artifice in their discussion.  I know that as with King Rama V, the legacy of His Majesty the King will be alive in the hearts and minds of Thai people a century from now. 

King Rama V was the absolute Monarch who steered Thailand on the course to modernity.  King Rama IX, the quiet Constitutional King.  His Monarchy isn't absolute and all powerful.  But He appears to be the glue to hold Thai society together and to set a steady course through the continual shocks and turmoils provoked by Thailand's fractious polity.

This is the way Thai people describe their Kings Rama V and IX when I talk to them.  And I know from how they talk that their love is very real.   Many foreigners, upon seeing a sea of yellow shirts in Bangkok, can fall into the trap of believing that there exists in Thailand a blind devotion to the institution of the Monarchy.  But if you spend a bit of time, talk to Thai people and look more closely, you will find that the Monarch Himself is more important.