Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 13 October 2016: Thailand’s king Bhumipol dies aged 88

Thailand’s king Bhumipol Adulyadej, known for being the longest reigning monarch, died on Thursday, 13th October. Though his powers were largely ceremonial, Bhumipol played an outsize role in political life, remaining highly popular in a country that was and still is highly fractious and coup-prone. A year of public mourning has been announced while the question of succession is being mulled. On the news of Bhumipol’s death his son and heir apparent, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, flew from Berlin to Bangkok, but he is unpopular and has a history of scandals, which may hurt his legitimacy.

Bhumipol was born in 1928 and came to the throne in 1946. He reigned as a constitutional monarch and since 1951 enjoyed greatly limited powers, but he became the face of popular development projects and managed to win over Thailand’s society. A carefully cultivated image of a monarch close to his people was additionally protected by particularly strict and regularly enforced lèse-majesté laws that date from 1908 and penalise ill-defined “insults” to the king of the royal family. Bhumipol was a conservative ruler, resisting full democratisation and supporting Thailand’s alignment with the US.

King’s reign saw a long series of coups d’état and a rapid succession of civilian and military governments. Thai Army positioned itself as a defender of the monarchy, implicating the king in the turmoil resulting from the military coup and the ouster of a popular civilian prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006. The subsequent political crisis deepened societal divisions and ultimately led the military to seize direct power in 2014 with king’s approval and to increase its hold on political life through a constitutional referendum in August 2016. The king played a crucial symbolic role in a political dynamic that served to legitimise the current military junta and whose futureis now unclear.

Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn is the heir apparent but has been proclaimed king yet. Prime Minister and the leader of junta, gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, announced that the prince wants “to take some time to mourn, together with the people of Thailand” first. Nevertheless, the government already announced on Thursday that the prince is to succeed his father.