131-550: Bhumibol Adulyadej (5 December 1927 – 13 October 2016), on whom the title of Bhumibol the Great was posthumously conferred, was the ninth king of the Chakri dynasty of Thailand , titled Rama IX , from 1946 until his death in 2016. His reign of 70 years and 126 days is the longest of any Thai monarch, the longest on record of any independent Asian sovereign, and the third-longest verified reign of any monarch of
262-600: A Burmese army under the Konbaung dynasty invaded, sacked and burned the city of Ayutthaya . An interlude filled by a short civil war was ended when Taksin restored the country under what has been called the Thonburi Kingdom . Kingship during the Thonburi period saw the adoption of the 'personal kingship' system that was previously administered under Naresuan (but abandoned after his death). Taksin treated
393-504: A compound of Bhūmi ( भूमि ), meaning "Land"; Bala ( बल ), meaning "Strength" or "Power"; Atulya ( अतुल्य ), meaning "Incomparable"; and Tej ( तेज ), meaning "Power". Thus, Bhūmibala Atulyateja , or Bhumibol Adulyadej as it is transliterated in Thai , can be literally translated as "Strength of the Land, Incomparable Power". Bhumibol came to Thailand in 1928, after his father obtained
524-777: A शिरोरेखा śirorekhā , that runs along the top of full letters. In a cursory look, the Devanāgarī script appears different from other Indic scripts , such as Bengali-Assamese or Gurmukhi , but a closer examination reveals they are very similar except for angles and structural emphasis. Among the languages using it as a primary or secondary script are Marathi , Pāḷi , Sanskrit , Hindi , Boro , Nepali , Sherpa , Prakrit , Apabhramsha , Awadhi , Bhojpuri , Braj Bhasha , Chhattisgarhi , Haryanvi , Magahi , Nagpuri , Rajasthani , Khandeshi , Bhili , Dogri , Kashmiri , Maithili , Konkani , Sindhi , Nepal Bhasa , Mundari , Angika , Bajjika and Santali . The Devanāgarī script
655-700: A 15-day monkhood (22 October 1956 – 5 November 1956) at Wat Bowonniwet , as is customary for Buddhist males on the death of elder relatives. He was ordained by the Supreme Patriarch on 22 October 1956 at the Royal Chapel of the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace . At this time, Sirikit was appointed his regent. She was later appointed Queen Regent ( Somdej Phra Boromarajininat ) in recognition of this. Although Bhumibol
786-618: A Thai sovereign to rule under the system of constitutional monarchy . During the ceremony, he pledged that he would "reign with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese people". Notable elements associated with the coronation included the Bahadrabith Throne [ th ] beneath the Great White Umbrella of State and royal regalia and utensils. In 1950 on Coronation Day, Bhumibol's consort
917-759: A bloodless coup. The junta, led by the Sonthi Boonyaratglin , Commander of the Army, called itself the Council for Democratic Reform under the Constitutional Monarchy . It accused the deposed prime minister and his regime of crimes, including lèse majesté, and pledged its loyalty to Bhumibol. Martial law was declared, the constitution repealed and the October elections cancelled. Protests and political meetings were banned. The king's role in
1048-549: A break from politics. Due to the election result, Bhumibol took the unprecedented step of calling the elections undemocratic. In May 2006, the Sondhi Limthongkul -owned Manager Daily newspaper published a series of articles describing the " Finland Plot ", alleging that Thaksin and former members of the Communist Party of Thailand planned to overthrow the king and seize control of the nation. No evidence
1179-735: A certificate from Harvard. His father died of kidney failure in September 1929, when Bhumibol was less than two years old. He briefly attended Mater Dei school in Bangkok , but in 1933 his mother took her family to Switzerland, where he continued his education at the École nouvelle de la Suisse romande in Lausanne . In 1934 Bhumibol was given his first camera, which ignited his lifelong enthusiasm for photography. When Bhumibol's childless uncle Prajadhipok abdicated in 1935, his nine-year-old brother Ananda Mahidol became King Rama VIII. However,
1310-530: A council similar to a cabinet , where the most important government officials could meet to decide state affairs. This advisory and legislative council, styled the Supreme Council of State of Siam (Thai: อภิรัฐมนตรีสภา) was founded on 28 November 1925 and existed until 1932. In June 1932, a group of foreign-educated students and military men called " the promoters " carried out a bloodless revolution , seized power and demanded that King Prajadhipok grant
1441-583: A coup d'état resulted in a postponement, and court astrologers determined that 2 March 1949 was the most auspicious date. While doing his degree in Switzerland, Bhumibol visited Paris frequently. It was in Paris that he first met Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara, daughter of the Thai ambassador to France ( Nakkhatra Mangala ) and a great-granddaughter of King Chulalongkorn and thus a cousin of Bhumibol. She
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#17327726840031572-680: A judgment but I cannot say", he said. "Either way the ruling goes, it will be bad for the country, there will be mistakes". The tribunal later acquitted the Democrat Party, but dissolved the Thai Rak Thai Party and banned 111 of its executives from politics for five years. The junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Assembly later tried to use the King in a propaganda campaign to increase public support for its widely criticised draft constitution . The CDA placed billboards saying "Love
1703-446: A large number of deaths when the military was brought in to control protesters. The situation became increasingly critical as police and military forces clashed with protesters. Violence and riots spread to many areas of the capital with rumours of a rift among the armed forces. Amidst the fear of civil war, Bhumibol intervened. He summoned Suchinda and the leader of the pro-democracy movement, retired Major General Chamlong Srimuang , to
1834-399: A sentence or half-verse may be marked with the " । " symbol (called a daṇḍa , meaning "bar", or called a pūrṇa virām , meaning "full stop/pause"). The end of a full verse may be marked with a double- daṇḍa , a " ॥ " symbol. A comma (called an alpa virām , meaning "short stop/pause") is used to denote a natural pause in speech. Punctuation marks of Western origin, such as
1965-456: A series of laws and measures relating to lèse majesté in Thailand are hindrances to freedom of expression. Dozens of arrests, hundreds of criminal investigations and multiple imprisonments have been made based on these laws. King Bhumibol Adulyadej's speech in his 2005 national birthday broadcast could have been interpreted as a suggestion that he welcomed criticism . The lèse-majesté law
2096-524: A series of military dictatorships. However, during his interview given to the BBC in 1979, the king reiterated that the monarchy should remain impartial and be in peaceful co-existence with everybody. Bhumibol invited public criticism in a 2005 speech, but the lèse majesté laws have not been revoked by the Thai parliament yet. In the early years of his reign, during the government of military dictator Plaek Phibunsongkhram , Bhumibol had no real political power and
2227-603: A sovereign state in history (after Louis XIV and Elizabeth II ). Born in the United States, Bhumibol spent his early life in Switzerland, in the aftermath of the 1932 Siamese revolution , which toppled Thailand’s centuries-old absolute monarchy , ruled at the time by his uncle, King Prajadhipok (Rama VII). He ascended to the throne in June 1946, succeeding his brother, King Ananda Mahidol , (Rama VIII), who had died under mysterious circumstances. In
2358-497: A system of absolute rule. Living in palaces designed after Mount Meru ("home of the gods" in Hinduism), the kings turned themselves into a " Chakravartin ", where the king became an absolute and universal lord of his realm. Kings demanded that the universe be envisioned as revolving around them , and expressed their powers through elaborate rituals and ceremonies. For four centuries these kings ruled Ayutthaya, presiding over some of
2489-423: A televised audience, and urged them to find a peaceful resolution. At the height of the crisis, the sight of both men appearing together on their knees (in accordance with royal protocol) made a strong impression on the nation. Bhumibol then signed Suchinda's amnesty decree that applied to both sides of the conflict, with the reason to protect security and unity of the country. Suchinda resigned soon afterwards. It
2620-510: A week before the scheduled verdict, Bhumibol gave a rare speech to the Supreme Administrative Court (the president of which is also a member of the constitutional tribunal). "You have the responsibility to prevent the country from collapsing", he warned them in the speech, which was shown on all national television channels simultaneously during the evening. "The nation needs political parties ... In my mind, I have
2751-610: Is head of state , Highest Commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces , adherent of Buddhism and upholder of religions . The current concept of Thai kingship evolved through 800 years of absolute rule. The first king of a unified Thailand was the founder of the Sukhothai Kingdom , King Si Inthrathit , in 1238. The idea of this early kingship is said to be based on two concepts derived from Hinduism and Theravada Buddhist beliefs. The first concept
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#17327726840032882-518: Is a table for Hindi, one for Sanskrit and Prakrit, etc. WX is a Roman transliteration scheme for Indian languages, widely used among the natural language processing community in India. It originated at IIT Kanpur for computational processing of Indian languages. The salient features of this transliteration scheme are as follows. ISCII is an 8-bit encoding. The lower 128 codepoints are plain ASCII ,
3013-658: Is associated with an application of the same name that enables typesetting in Indic scripts . The user inputs in Roman letters and the ITRANS pre-processor translates the Roman letters into Devanāgarī (or other Indic languages). The latest version of ITRANS is version 5.30 released in July 2001. It is similar to Velthuis system and was created by Avinash Chopde to help print various Indic scripts with personal computers. The disadvantage of
3144-535: Is based on the ancient Indian Kshatriya ( Thai : กษัตริย์) , or warrior-ruler, in which the king derives his powers from military might. The second is based on the Buddhist concept of Dhammaraja ( Thai : ธรรมราชา) , Buddhism having been introduced to Thailand around the 6th century AD. The idea of the Dhammaraja (or kingship under Dharma) is that the king should rule his people in accordance with Dharma and
3275-566: Is closely related to the Nandināgarī script commonly found in numerous ancient manuscripts of South India , and it is distantly related to a number of southeast Asian scripts. Devanāgarī is formed by the addition of the word deva ( देव ) to the word nāgarī ( नागरी ). Nāgarī is an adjective derived from nagara ( नगर ), a Sanskrit word meaning "town" or "city," and literally means "urban" or "urbane". The word Nāgarī (implicitly modifying lipi , "script")
3406-477: Is created to bolster a conservative elite well beyond the walls of the palace." The Thai activist and magazine editor Somyot Prueksakasemsuk , who was sentenced to eleven years' imprisonment for a violation of lèse-majesté laws in 2013, is a designated prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. The king is assisted in his work and duties by the Private Secretary to the King of Thailand and
3537-409: Is indicated by diacritics . The vowel अ ( a ) combines with the consonant क् ( k ) to form क ( ka ) with halant removed. But the diacritic series of क , ख , ग , घ ( ka, kha, ga, gha , respectively) is without any added vowel sign, as the vowel अ ( a ) is inherent . The combinations of all Sanskrit consonants and vowels, each in alphabetical order, are laid out in
3668-449: Is part of Thailand's criminal-law code and has been described as the "world's harshest lèse majesté law" and "possibly the strictest criminal-defamation law anywhere". Political scientist Giles Ungpakorn noted that "the lèse-majesté laws are not really designed to protect the institution of the monarchy. In the past, the laws have been used to protect governments and to shield military coups from lawful criticism. This whole [royal] image
3799-555: Is part of the Brahmic family of scripts of India , Nepal , Tibet , and Southeast Asia . It is a descendant of the 3rd century BCE Brāhmī script , which evolved into the Nagari script which in turn gave birth to Devanāgarī and Nandināgarī . Devanāgarī has been widely adopted across India and Nepal to write Sanskrit , Marathi , Hindi , Central Indo-Aryan languages , Konkani , Boro , and various Nepalese languages. Some of
3930-562: Is required by court etiquette as an honorific register consisting of a special vocabulary used exclusively for addressing the king, or for talking about royalty. The king was chief administrator, chief legislator, and chief judge, with all laws, orders, verdict and punishments theoretically originating from his person. The king's sovereignty was reflected in the titles "Lord of the Land" ( พระเจ้าแผ่นดิน Phra Chao Phaen Din ) and "Lord of Life" ( เจ้าชีวิต Chao Chiwit ). The king's powers and titles were seen by foreign observers as proof that
4061-416: Is the constitutional form of government of Thailand (formerly Siam ). The king of Thailand ( Thai : พระมหากษัตริย์ไทย , historically, king of Siam ; Thai : พระเจ้ากรุงสยาม ) is the head of state and head of the ruling Chakri dynasty . Although the current Chakri dynasty was created in 1782, the existence of the institution of monarchy in Thailand is traditionally considered to have its roots in
Bhumibol Adulyadej - Misplaced Pages Continue
4192-450: Is the best in terms of ligatures but, because it is designed for Vedic as well, requires so much vertical space that it is not well suited for the "user interface font" (though an excellent choice for the "original field" font). Santipur OT is a beautiful font reflecting a very early [medieval era] typesetting style for Devanagari. Sanskrit 2003 is a good all-around font and has more ligatures than most fonts, though students will probably find
4323-471: Is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world, being used for over 120 languages. The orthography of this script reflects the pronunciation of the language. Unlike the Latin alphabet, the script has no concept of letter case . It is written from left to right, has a strong preference for symmetrical rounded shapes within squared outlines, and is recognisable by a horizontal line, known as
4454-682: Is the standard keyboard layout for Devanāgarī as standardized by the Government of India. It is inbuilt in all modern major operating systems . Microsoft Windows supports the InScript layout, which can be used to input unicode Devanāgarī characters. InScript is also available in some touchscreen mobile phones. This layout was used on manual typewriters when computers were not available or were uncommon. For backward compatibility some typing tools like Indic IME still provide this layout. Such tools work on phonetic transliteration. The user writes in
4585-460: Is used for writing languages other than Sanskrit, conjuncts are used mostly with Sanskrit words and loan words. Native words typically use the basic consonant and native speakers know to suppress the vowel when it is conventional to do so. For example, the native Hindi word karnā is written करना ( ka-ra-nā ). The government of these clusters ranges from widely to narrowly applicable rules, with special exceptions within. While standardised for
4716-489: Is visible in the Kutila inscription of Bareilly dated to VS 1049 (992 CE), which demonstrates the emergence of the horizontal bar to group letters belonging to a word. One of the oldest surviving Sanskrit texts from the early post- Maurya period consists of 1,413 Nāgarī pages of a commentary by Patanjali , with a composition date of about 150 BCE, the surviving copy transcribed about 14th century CE. In
4847-572: Is why Bhumibol was the only monarch to be born in the US . Bhumibol had an older sister, Princess Galyani Vadhana , and an older brother, Prince Ananda Mahidol . His US birth certificate read simply "Baby Songkla", as the parents had to consult his uncle, King Prajadhipok, then head of the House of Chakri, for an auspicious name. The king chose a name of Sanskrit origin, Bhumibol Adulyadej ( Devanagari : भूमिबल अतुल्यतेज, IAST : Bhūmibala Atulyateja ),
4978-768: The Siddhaṃ matrika script (considered as the closest precursor to Nāgarī) was in use by Buddhists . Nāgarī has been the primus inter pares of the Indic scripts. It has long been used traditionally by religiously educated people in South Asia to record and transmit information, existing throughout the land in parallel with a wide variety of local scripts (such as Moḍī , Kaithi , and Mahajani ) used for administration, commerce, and other daily uses. Sharada remained in parallel use in Kashmir . An early version of Devanāgarī
5109-487: The bārākhaḍī ( बाराखडी ) or bārahkhaṛī ( बारहखड़ी ) table. In the following barakhadi table, the IAST transliteration of each combination will appear on mouseover: The following letter variants are also in use, particularly in older texts and in specific regions: As mentioned, successive consonants lacking a vowel in between them may physically join as a conjunct consonant or ligature . When Devanāgarī
5240-424: The 1949 constitution , which returned to the monarchy many of the powers it had lost by the 1932 Revolution . In December 1946, the Siamese government allocated several hundred thousand dollars for the ceremonial cremation of the remains of the late King Ananda, a necessary preliminary to the coronation of Bhumibol who was required by religious custom to light the funeral pyre. Unsettled conditions in 1947 following
5371-522: The 1997 Asian financial crisis , which triggered political instability in Thailand during the 2000s. Bhumibol's reign was characterized by several periods of gradual democratization punctuated by frequent military coups, the last of which occurred in 2014 . Forbes estimated Bhumibol's fortune—including property and investments managed by the Crown Property Bureau , a body that is neither private nor government-owned (assets managed by
Bhumibol Adulyadej - Misplaced Pages Continue
5502-621: The Buddhist Dharmaraja . The two former concepts were re-established, with a third, older concept taking hold. This concept was called " Devaraja " ( Thai : เทวราชา) (or "divine king"), which was an idea borrowed by the Khmer Empire from the Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of Java , especially the idea of a scholar class based on Hindu Brahmins . The concept centered on the idea that the king was an incarnation ( avatar ) of
5633-609: The Bureau of the Royal Household and the Crown Property Bureau respectively, these agencies are not considered part of the Thai government and all personnel are appointed by the king. The junta that took power in 2014 was aggressive in jailing critics of the monarchy. In 2015, it spent US$ 540 million, more than the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on a promotional campaign called "Worship, protect and uphold
5764-507: The Government of India . A standard transliteration convention was codified in the ISO 15919 standard of 2001. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of Brāhmic graphemes to the Latin script. The Devanāgarī-specific portion is nearly identical to the academic standard for Sanskrit, IAST . The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is the academic standard for
5895-591: The Indian subcontinent . Also simply called Nāgari ( Sanskrit : नागरि , Nāgari ), it is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system ), based on the ancient Brāhmi script. It is one of the official scripts of the Republic of India and Nepal . It was developed and in regular use by the 8th century CE and achieved its modern form by 1000 CE. The Devanāgari script, composed of 48 primary characters, including 14 vowels and 34 consonants,
6026-613: The Privy Council of Thailand , in consultation with the head of the cabinet, the Prime Minister . In accordance with the country’s constitution, the king is no longer the originator of all laws in the kingdom; that prerogative is entrusted to the National Assembly of Thailand . All bills passed by the legislature, however, require his royal assent to become law. The monarchy's household and finances are managed by
6157-555: The Rattanakosin period the Chakri kings tried to continue the concepts of Ayutthayan kingship once again emphasizing the connection between the sovereign and his subjects. On the other hand, they continued to not relinquish any authority of the throne. Kings Phutthaloetla Naphalai (Rama II) and Nangklao (Rama III) created a semblance of a modern administration by creating a supreme council and appointing chief officers to help with
6288-688: The colon , semicolon , exclamation mark , dash , and question mark have been in use in Devanāgarī script since at least the 1900s, matching their use in European languages. A variety of Unicode fonts are in use for Devanāgarī. These include Akshar, Annapurna, Arial , CDAC-Gist Surekh, CDAC-Gist Yogesh, Chandas, Gargi, Gurumaa, Jaipur, Jana, Kalimati, Kanjirowa, Lohit Devanagari, Mangal, Kokila, ,Preeti, Raghu, Sanskrit2003, Santipur OT, Siddhanta, and Thyaka. The form of Devanāgarī fonts vary with function. According to Harvard College for Sanskrit studies: Uttara [companion to Chandas ]
6419-772: The 7th century, under the rule of Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire , Thonmi Sambhota was sent to Nepal to open marriage negotiations with a Nepali princess and to find a writing system suitable for the Tibetan language. He then invented the Tibetan script based on the Nāgarī used in Kashmir. He added 6 new characters for sounds that did not exist in Sanskrit. Other scripts closely related to Nāgarī (such as Siddhaṃ ) were introduced throughout East and Southeast Asia from
6550-620: The 7th to the 10th centuries CE: notably in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Japan. Most of the Southeast Asian scripts have roots in Dravidian scripts, but a few found in south-central regions of Java and isolated parts of southeast Asia resemble Devanāgarī or its prototypes. The Kawi script in particular is similar to the Devanāgarī in many respects, though the morphology of the script has local changes. The earliest inscriptions in
6681-524: The 9th century copper plate inscription of Devapaladeva (Bengal) which is also in early Devanāgarī script. The term kawi in Kawi script is a loan word from kāvya (poetry). According to anthropologists and Asian studies scholars John Norman Miksic and Goh Geok Yian, the 8th century version of early Nāgarī or Devanāgarī script was adopted in Java, Bali , and Khmer around the 8th–9th centuries, as evidenced by
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#17327726840036812-472: The Bureau were owned by the crown as an institution, not by the monarch as an individual)—to be US$ 30 billion in 2010, and he headed the magazine's list of the "world's richest royals" from 2008 to 2013. In 2014, Bhumibol's wealth was again listed as US$ 30 billion. After a period of deteriorating health which left him hospitalized on several occasions, Bhumibol died in 2016 at Siriraj Hospital . He
6943-679: The Devanāgarī-like scripts are from around the 10th century CE, with many more between the 11th and 14th centuries. Some of the old-Devanāgarī inscriptions are found in Hindu temples of Java, such as the Prambanan temple. The Ligor and the Kalasan inscriptions of central Java, dated to the 8th century, are also in the Nāgarī script of north India. According to the epigraphist and Asian Studies scholar Lawrence Briggs, these may be related to
7074-566: The Election Commissioners. On 14 July, Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda addressed graduating cadets of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy , telling them that the Thai military must serve the nation and the king—not the government. On 20 July, Bhumibol signed a royal decree endorsing new House elections for 15 October 2006 . In an unprecedented act, the King wrote a note on
7205-624: The Gymnase Classique Cantonal de Lausanne , and by 1945 had begun studying sciences at the University of Lausanne , when World War II ended and the family was able to return to Thailand. Bhumibol ascended the throne following the death by gunshot wound of his brother, King Ananda Mahidol , on 9 June 1946, under circumstances that remain unclear. While an initial government statement stated that Ananda had accidentally shot himself, an investigation committee ruled this
7336-950: The Indic language Misplaced Pages and other wikiprojects, including Hindi, Bhojpuri, Marathi, and Nepali Misplaced Pages. While some people use InScript , the majority uses either Google phonetic transliteration or the input facility Universal Language Selector provided on Misplaced Pages. On Indic language wikiprojects, the phonetic facility provided initially was java-based, and was later supported by Narayam extension for phonetic input facility. Currently Indic language Wiki projects are supported by Universal Language Selector (ULS) , that offers both phonetic keyboard (Aksharantaran, Marathi: अक्षरांतरण , Hindi: लिप्यंतरण, बोलनागरी ) and InScript keyboard (Marathi: मराठी लिपी ). The Ubuntu Linux operating system supports several keyboard layouts for Devanāgarī, including Harvard-Kyoto, WX notation , Bolanagari and phonetic. The 'remington' typing method in Ubuntu IBUS
7467-401: The King. Care about the King. Vote in the referendum" throughout northeast Thailand , where opposition to the junta was greatest. On 20 April 2009, Thaksin claimed in an interview with the Financial Times that Bhumibol had been briefed by Privy Councillors Prem Tinsulanonda and Surayud Chulanont about their plans to stage the 2006 coup. He claimed that General Panlop Pinmanee , a leader of
7598-405: The Latin alphabet and the IME automatically converts it into Devanāgarī. Some popular phonetic typing tools are Akruti, Baraha IME and Google IME . The Mac OS X operating system includes two different keyboard layouts for Devanāgarī: one resembles the INSCRIPT/KDE Linux, while the other is a phonetic layout called "Devanāgarī QWERTY". Any one of the Unicode fonts input systems is fine for
7729-1082: The People's Alliance for Democracy, had told him of the briefing. The Thai embassy in London denied Thaksin's claims. King of Thailand Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) Dipangkorn Rasmijoti Paetongtarn Shinawatra ( PTP ) Phumtham Wechayachai ( PTP ) Suriya Juangroongruangkit ( PTP ) Anutin Charnvirakul ( BTP ) Pirapan Salirathavibhaga ( UTN ) Pichai Chunhavajira ( PTP ) Prasert Jantararuangtong ( PTP ) Wan Muhamad Noor Matha ( PCC ) Mongkol Surasajja [REDACTED] Wan Muhamad Noor Matha ( PCC ) Pichet Chuamuangphan ( PTP ) Paradorn Prissanananthakul ( BTP ) Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut ( PP ) [REDACTED] Mongkol Surasajja Kriangkrai Srirak Bunsong Noisophon President: Chanakarn Theeravechpolkul President: Prasitsak Meelarp President: Nakarin Mektrairat Diplomatic missions of / in Thailand Passport Visa requirements Visa policy Borders : Cambodia Laos Malaysia Myanmar (Maritime : India Indonesia Vietnam) Foreign aid The monarchy of Thailand
7860-453: The Thai equivalent of "Bhumibol Adulyadej R[ex])". In 1957, a military coup overthrew the government of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram with allegations of lèse-majesté , corruption and manipulation of the election held earlier that year. This began a new and long-lasting relationship between the monarch and military, leading some to perceive that the king condones the Thammasat University massacre in defense of his throne, and support
7991-473: The above ASCII schemes is case-sensitivity, implying that transliterated names may not be capitalised. This difficulty is avoided with the system developed in 1996 by Frans Velthuis for TeX , loosely based on IAST, in which case is irrelevant. ALA-LC romanisation is a transliteration scheme approved by the Library of Congress and the American Library Association, and widely used in North American libraries. Transliteration tables are based on languages, so there
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#17327726840038122-404: The adoption of Nāgarī scripts. For example, the mid 8th-century Pattadakal pillar in Karnataka has text in both Siddha Matrika script, and an early Telugu-Kannada script; while, the Kangra Jawalamukhi inscription in Himachal Pradesh is written in both Sharada and Devanāgarī scripts. The Nāgarī script was in regular use by the 7th century CE, and it was fully developed by about
8253-435: The anniversary, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented Bhumibol with the United Nations Development Programme 's first Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award on 26 May 2006. National holidays were observed on 9 June and 12–13 June 2006. On 9 June, the king and queen appeared on the balcony of Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall before hundreds of thousands of people. The official royal barge procession on 12 June
8384-425: The blame, but whatever happens, the King will only get praise." On Saturday, 23 September 2006, the junta warned it would "urgently retaliate against foreign reporters whose coverage has been deemed insulting to the monarchy." Prem did help secure the appointment of Surayud Chulanont , another member of the King's Privy Council, as Premier, and allegedly had a say in the appointment of Surayud's Cabinet. Critics claimed
8515-435: The cabinet was full of "Prem's boys". The junta appointed a constitutional tribunal to rule on alleged polling fraud involving the Thai Rak Thai and Democrat political parties. Guilty rulings would have dissolved both parties, Thailand's largest and oldest, respectively, and banned the parties' leadership from politics for five years. The weeks leading up to the verdicts saw rising political tensions. On 24 May 2007, about
8646-459: The citizens shall remain calm whilst all the government officers shall serve the orders issued by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat. This Proclamation shall come into force immediately. Done this 16th Day of September, Buddhist Era 2500 (1957). Sarit later admitted in a rare interview with foreign correspondent that the king had no involvement and did not acknowledge anything about the coup until it had been done successfully. During Sarit's dictatorship,
8777-439: The concept of kingship by abandoning the shroud of mysticism usually adopted by many Ayutthayan monarchs; he often revealed himself to the common folk by partaking in public activities and traditional festivities. He did little to emphasize his new capital, Thonburi , as the spiritual successor to Ayutthaya. He also emphasized the building of moats and defensive walls in Thonburi. In 1782, Phutthayotfa Chulalok (Rama I) ascended
8908-628: The country. The ensuing chaos was used as a pretext for a military coup, which Bhumibol backed and described as a manifestation of the people's will. The event that catalyzed the coup was the Thammasat University massacre , carried out in the name of defending Bhumibol's throne. The victorious military junta submitted three names to the king as possible premiers: Deputy President of the king's Privy Council Prakob Hutasingh [ th ] , right-wing Bangkok Governor Thamnoon Thien-ngern [ th ] , and staunchly anti-communist Supreme Court judge Thanin Kraivichien . Bhumibol chose Thanin as
9039-433: The coup was the subject of much speculation among Thai analysts and the international media, although publication of such speculation was banned in Thailand. The king had an audience with Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda at the same time that special forces troops were mobilised. Anti-coup protesters claimed that Prem was the mastermind of the coup, although the military claimed otherwise and banned any discussion of
9170-530: The course of his rule, Bhumibol presided over Thailand's transformation into a major U.S. ally and a regional economic power. Between 1985 and 1994, Thailand was the world's fastest growing economy, according to the World Bank , and in the 1990s was predicted by many international journalists to be the next " Asian Tiger ". During this period, the country also saw the emergence of an urban middle class as well as mass political participation in its electoral politics. However, this rapid economic growth came to an end with
9301-504: The deaths of Emperor Hirohito of Japan and Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein . In 1992, Bhumibol played a key role in Thailand's transition to a democratic system. The 1991 Thai coup d'état on 23 February returned Thailand to military dictatorship . After a general election in 1992 , the majority parties invited General Suchinda Kraprayoon , a leader of the coup group, to be prime minister. This caused much dissent, which escalated into demonstrations called Black May that led to
9432-562: The dictator Sarit was Bhumibol's tool. Political scientist Thak Chaloemtiarana writes that Sarit used Bhumibol in order to build his own credibility. Following Sarit's death General Thanom Kittikachorn rose to power to lead Thailand's military dictatorship, ultimately challenged by the 1973 Thai popular uprising . Bhumibol initially asked student protestors to disband. When police attacked and killed dozens of students, sparking protest riots, Bhumibol announced general Thanom's resignation and departure from Thailand. According to William Stevenson,
9563-611: The earliest epigraphic evidence attesting to the developing Sanskrit Nāgarī script in ancient India is from the 1st to 4th century CE inscriptions discovered in Gujarat . Variants of script called nāgarī , recognisably close to Devanāgarī, are first attested from the 1st century CE Rudradaman inscriptions in Sanskrit, while the modern standardised form of Devanāgarī was in use by about 1000 CE. Medieval inscriptions suggest widespread diffusion of Nāgarī-related scripts, with biscripts presenting local script along with
9694-705: The end of first millennium. The use of Sanskrit in Nāgarī script in medieval India is attested by numerous pillar and cave-temple inscriptions, including the 11th-century Udayagiri inscriptions in Madhya Pradesh , and an inscribed brick found in Uttar Pradesh , dated to be from 1217 CE, which is now held at the British Museum . The script's prototypes and related versions have been discovered with ancient relics outside India, in places such as Sri Lanka , Myanmar and Indonesia . In East Asia,
9825-484: The end of the 100-day mourning period. Despite his interest in science and technology, he changed his major and enrolled in law and political science to prepare for his duties as head of state. His uncle, Rangsit, Prince of Chainat , was appointed Prince Regent . In Bhumibol's name, Prince Rangsit acknowledged a military coup that overthrew the government of Thamrongnawasawat in November 1947. The regent also signed
9956-527: The end of the kingdom, the two old concepts returned as symbolized by the change in the style of the kings: "Pho" was changed to "Phaya" or Lord. The Sukhothai Kingdom was supplanted by the Ayutthaya Kingdom , which was founded in 1351 by King Ramathibodhi I . During the Ayutthayan period, the idea of kingship changed. Due to ancient Khmer tradition in the region, the Hindu concept of kingship
10087-468: The family remained in Switzerland and the affairs of the head of state were conducted by a regency council. They returned to Thailand for only two months in 1938. In 1942, Bhumibol became a jazz enthusiast, and started to play the saxophone, a passion that he kept throughout his life. He received the baccalauréat des lettres (high-school diploma with a major in French literature , Latin , and Greek) from
10218-418: The field marshal to resign to avoid a coup. Phibunsongkhram refused. That evening, Sarit Thanarat seized power. Two hours later Bhumibol imposed martial law throughout the kingdom. Bhumibol issued a proclamation appointing Sarit as "military defender of the capital" without anyone countersigning the proclamation. It included the following: Whereas it appears that the public administration by the government under
10349-500: The founding of the Sukhothai Kingdom in 1238, with a brief interregnum from the death of Ekkathat to the accession of Taksin in the 18th century. The institution was transformed into a constitutional monarchy in 1932 after the bloodless Siamese Revolution of 1932 . The monarchy's official ceremonial residence is the Grand Palace in Bangkok , while the private residence has been at the Dusit Palace . The king of Thailand
10480-411: The god Vishnu and that he was a Bodhisattva (enlightened one), therefore basing his power on his religious power, his moral power, and his purity of blood. The king, portrayed by state interests as a semi-divine figure, then became—through a rigid cultural implementation—an object of worship and veneration to his people. From then on the monarchy was largely removed from the people and continued under
10611-536: The government. He lived in exile in the United Kingdom until his death in 1941. The king was replaced by his young nephew Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII). The new king was 10 years old and was living abroad in Switzerland . A council of regents was appointed in his place. During this period the roles and powers of the king were entirely usurped by the fascist government of Plaek Phibunsongkhram , who changed
10742-530: The greatest period of cultural, economic, and military growth in Thai history . The Kings of Ayutthaya created many institutions to support their rule. Whereas feudalism developed in the European Middle Ages , Ayutthayan King Trailokanat in the 15th century instituted sakdina , a system of social hierarchy which ranked the king's subjects according to the amount of land they were entitled to, according to their rank and position. Rachasap
10873-532: The keyboard. This makes typing in Harvard-Kyoto much easier than IAST. Harvard-Kyoto uses capital letters that can be difficult to read in the middle of words. ITRANS is a lossless transliteration scheme of Devanāgarī into ASCII that is widely used on Usenet . It is an extension of the Harvard-Kyoto scheme. In ITRANS, the word devanāgarī is written "devanaagarii" or "devanAgarI". ITRANS
11004-536: The king had asked the three tyrants to avoid bloodshed; although the three tyrants had agreed, they later changed their minds. Eventually, it led to the incidents of October 1973. Bhumibol distanced himself from the Thai military after Thanom's fall. Political events in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos brought powerful guerrilla and communist movements into power or prominence, which threatened the Thai monarchy and political establishment. Fearing unrest, Bhumibol began to court
11135-405: The king was an absolute monarch in the European sense. However, in Siamese tradition the duty and responsibility of the king was seen as developed from the ancient Indian theories of royal authority , which resemble Enlightened Absolutism , although the emphasis is not on rationality but on Dhamma . This was disrupted in 1767, when Thai digests of the dhammasāt ( ธรรมศาสตร์ ) were lost when
11266-625: The land of gilded elephants and white umbrellas". The ceremony was performed by Bhumibol's ageing grandmother, Savang Vadhana . Bhumibol and Sirikit had four children: After presiding over the long-delayed, ceremonial cremation of his brother Ananda Mahidol , Bhumibol was crowned King of Thailand on 5 May 1950 in the Phaisan Thaksin Throne Hall in the Grand Palace in Bangkok. It was the first coronation ceremony of
11397-489: The latter as regent , from the king's death in 1868 until 1873). Chulalongkorn (Rama V) ascended the throne as a minor at age 15 in 1868, and as King of Siam on 16 November 1873. As a prince, he had been tutored in Western traditions by the governess , Anna Leonowens . Intent on reforming the monarchy along Western lines, during his minority he traveled extensively to observe western administrative methods. He transformed
11528-399: The many contemporaneous inscriptions of this period. The letter order of Devanāgarī, like nearly all Brāhmic scripts, is based on phonetic principles that consider both the manner and place of articulation of the consonants and vowels they represent. This arrangement is usually referred to as the varṇamālā (" garland of letters"). The format of Devanāgarī for Sanskrit serves as
11659-577: The military in 1975, visiting camps throughout the country, and publicly warning of internal and external threats. At this time, Bhumibol increasingly cultivated far-right militias and paramilitary forces, including the Red Gaurs and the Village Scouts, warning that students and political dissidents planned to bring communists to power in Thailand. Finally, Bhumibol provoked outrage among students and legal groups by inviting general Thanom back into
11790-421: The monarchy along Western lines of an " enlightened ruler ". He abolished the practice of prostration in front of the monarch, and repealed many laws concerning the relationship between the monarch and his people, while continuing many of the ancient aspects and rituals of the old kingship. In 1874, he created a privy council copied from the European tradition, to help him rule his Kingdom. During his reign Siam
11921-648: The monarchy into the 20th century. The perceived slow pace of reform resulted in the Palace Revolt of 1912 . In 1914, Vajiravudh determined that the act providing for invoking martial law , first promulgated by his father in 1907, was not consistent with modern laws of war , nor convenient for the preservation of the security of the state, so it was amended to a more modern form that, with minor amendments, continued in force through subsequent changes in government. Prajadhipok (Rama VII) succeeded his brother in 1925. The Eton and Sandhurst educated monarch created
12052-465: The monarchy was revitalised. Bhumibol attended public ceremonies, toured the provinces and patronised development projects, he also visited the United States in June 1960, addressing Congress, and many countries in Europe, including a visit to Rome, hosted by PM Giovanni Gronchi , in September 1960. Under Sarit, the practice of crawling in front of royalty during audiences, banned by King Chulalongkorn ,
12183-475: The monarchy" to 18 billion baht (US$ 514 million), an increase of 28 per cent for this budget line item since 2014 when it took power. Budget allocations to support the monarchy in FY2020 amount to 29.728 billion baht, or 0.93% of the total budget. *Including regional kingdoms and polity The present set of royal regalia of Thailand (Khrueang Raja Kakudhabhand, Thai : เครื่องราชกกุธภัณฑ์) and
12314-453: The monarchy." The campaign includes television commercials, seminars in schools and prisons, singing contests, and competitions to write stories and films praising the king. "This is not propaganda," Prayut Chan-o-cha , the leader of the junta, said. "The youth must be educated on what the king has done." In its fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget, the ruling military government has increased its expenditure for "upholding, protecting and preserving
12445-532: The most part, there are certain variations in clustering, of which the Unicode used on this page is just one scheme. The following are a number of rules: The pitch accent of Vedic Sanskrit is written with various symbols depending on shakha . In the Rigveda , anudātta is written with a bar below the line ( ◌॒ ), svarita with a stroke above the line ( ◌॑ ) while udātta is unmarked. The end of
12576-573: The most suitable premier, leading student protesters to flee to join the communists in the jungle. Thanin was overthrown in a military coup in October 1977 led by General Kriangsak Chamanan . Kriangsak was succeeded in 1980 by the popular Army Commander-in-Chief, General Prem Tinsulanonda , who later became the Privy Council President. Bhumibol's refusal to endorse military coups in April 1981 and September 1985 ultimately led to
12707-578: The name of the kingdom from Siam to Thailand , and aligned it on the side of the Axis powers in the Pacific theatre of World War II . By the end of the war Phibunsongkhram was removed and the young king returned. The Free Thai movement provided resistance to foreign occupation during the war and helped rehabilitate Thailand after the war. After Rama VIII's sudden death from a bullet wound in 1946, Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), aged 19 years old, became
12838-606: The new monarch. In establishing his rule, the king was aided by the efforts of the US government, who used the monarchy as a bulwark against communist gains in Southeast Asia. King Bhumibol was the world's longest reigning monarch at the time of his death in October 2016. He died on 13 October 2016 at the age of 88. Since 2000, the role of the Thai monarchy has been increasingly challenged by scholars, students, media, observers and traditionalists, and as pro-democracy interests began to express their speech. Many deemed that
12969-473: The people of Siam a constitution. The king agreed and in December 1932 the people were granted a constitution , ending 150 years of absolute Chakri rule. From then on the role of the monarch was relegated to that of a symbolic head of state. His powers from then on were exercised by a prime minister and the national assembly . In 1935 Prajadhipok (Rama VII) abdicated the throne, following disagreements with
13100-399: The personal use of the monarch, comprising: These unique objects are always placed on either side of the king's throne or his seat during royal ceremonies. Devanagari Devanagari ( / ˌ d eɪ v ə ˈ n ɑː ɡ ə r i / DAY -və- NAH -gə-ree ; देवनागरी , IAST : Devanāgarī , Sanskrit pronunciation: [deːʋɐˈnaːɡɐriː] ) is an Indic script used in
13231-551: The premiership of Field Marshal P. Phibunsongkhram is untrustworthy, and that the government could not maintain the public order; and whereas the military, led by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, has successfully taken over the public administration and now acts as the Military Defender of the Capital; now, therefore, I do hereby appoint Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat as the Military Defender of the Capital, and command that all
13362-623: The prototype for its application, with minor variations or additions, to other languages. The vowels and their arrangement are: The table below shows the consonant letters (in combination with inherent vowel a ) and their arrangement. To the right of the Devanāgarī letter it shows the Latin script transliteration using International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration , and the phonetic value ( IPA ) in Hindi . The table below shows consonants with common vowel diacritics and their ISO 15919 transliteration. Vowels in their independent form on
13493-468: The public. Bhumibol, in a speech on 26 April 2006, responded, "Asking for a Royally-appointed prime minister is undemocratic. It is, pardon me, a mess. It is irrational". After publicly claiming victory in the boycotted April parliamentary elections , Thaksin Shinawatra had a private audience with the king. A few hours later, Thaksin appeared on national television to announce that he would be taking
13624-502: The romanisation of Sanskrit. IAST is the de facto standard used in printed publications, like books, magazines, and electronic texts with Unicode fonts. It is based on a standard established by the Congress of Orientalists at Athens in 1912. The ISO 15919 standard of 2001 codified the transliteration convention to include an expanded standard for sister scripts of Devanāgarī. The National Library at Kolkata romanisation , intended for
13755-400: The romanisation of all Indic scripts, is an extension of IAST. Compared to IAST, Harvard-Kyoto looks much simpler. It does not contain all the diacritic marks that IAST contains. It was designed to simplify the task of putting large amount of Sanskrit textual material into machine readable form, and the inventors stated that it reduces the effort needed in transliteration of Sanskrit texts on
13886-524: The royal decree calling for a clean and fair election. That very day, Bhumibol underwent spinal surgery. The 60th anniversary ( diamond jubilee ) celebrations of the king's accession to the throne were a series of events marking Bhumibol's reign in June 2006. Events included a royal barge procession on the Chao Phraya River, fireworks displays, art exhibitions, and the pardoning of 25,000 prisoners, concerts, and dance performances. Tied in with
14017-552: The royal utensils was created mostly during the reign of King Rama I and Rama IV, after the previous set was lost during the sack of Ayutthaya by the Burmese in 1767. The regalia is used mainly during the coronation ceremony of the king at the beginning of every reign. The regalia is presently on display in the Museum of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The Thai royal utensils (Phra Khattiya Rajuprapoke; พระขัตติยราชูปโภค) are also for
14148-530: The running of the government. Mongkut (Rama IV) marked a significant break in tradition when he spent the first 27 years of his adult life as a Buddhist monk during which time he became proficient in the English language, before ascending the throne. As king, he continued the appointment of officers to his supreme council, the most notable being Somdet Chao Phraya Prayurawongse and Si Suriyawongse , both of whom acted as Chief Ministers for King Mongkut (and
14279-615: The spacing of the CDAC-Gist Surekh font makes for quicker comprehension and reading. The Google Fonts project has a number of Unicode fonts for Devanāgarī in a variety of typefaces in serif, sans-serif, display and handwriting categories. There are several methods of Romanisation or transliteration from Devanāgarī to the Roman script . The Hunterian system is the national system of romanisation in India , officially adopted by
14410-568: The teachings of the Buddha. These ideas were briefly replaced in 1279, when King Ram Khamhaeng came to the throne. Ramkhamhaeng departed from tradition and created instead a concept of " paternal rule " ( Thai : พ่อปกครองลูก) , in which the king governs his people as a father would govern his children. This idea is reinforced in the title and name of the king, as he is still known today, Pho Khun Ram Khamhaeng ( Thai : พ่อขุนรามคำแหง) meaning 'Father Ruler Ram Khamhaeng'. This lasted briefly. By
14541-640: The throne and moved the capital from the Thonburi side to the Bangkok side of the Chao Phraya River . There he established the House of Chakri , the current ruling dynasty of Thailand. (This first reign was later designated as that of Rama I in the list of Rama Kings of Thailand .) He also established the office of Supreme Patriarch as the head of the Sangha , the order of Buddhist monks . During
14672-449: The top and in their corresponding dependent form (vowel sign) combined with the consonant ' k ' on the bottom. ' ka ' is without any added vowel sign, where the vowel ' a ' is inherent . A vowel combines with a consonant in their diacritic form. For example, the vowel आ ( ā ) combines with the consonant क् ( k ) to form the syllabic letter का ( kā ), with halant (cancel sign) removed and added vowel sign which
14803-494: The topic. In a BBC interview, Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Chulalongkorn University noted, "This coup was nothing short of Thaksin versus the King ... He [the king] is widely seen as having implicitly endorsed the coup." In the same interview, social critic Sulak Sivaraksa claimed, "Without his [the king's] involvement, the coup would have been impossible." Sulak added that the king is "very skillful. He never becomes obviously involved. If this coup goes wrong, Sonthi will get
14934-646: The upper 128 codepoints are ISCII-specific. It has been designed for representing not only Devanāgarī but also various other Indic scripts as well as a Latin-based script with diacritic marks used for transliteration of the Indic scripts. ISCII has largely been superseded by Unicode, which has, however, attempted to preserve the ISCII layout for its Indic language blocks. The Unicode Standard defines four blocks for Devanāgarī: Devanagari (U+0900–U+097F), Devanagari Extended (U+A8E0–U+A8FF), Devanagari Extended-A (U+11B00–11B5F), and Vedic Extensions (U+1CD0–U+1CFF). InScript
15065-402: The victory of forces loyal to the government, despite some violence – including, in 1981, the seizure of Bangkok by rebel forces. The coups led many to believe that Bhumibol had misjudged Thai society and that his credibility as an impartial mediator between various political and military factions had been compromised. In 1989, Bhumibol became the world's longest-reigning living monarch following
15196-470: Was applied to the status of the leader. Brahmins took charge in the royal coronation . The king was treated as a reincarnation of Hindu gods . Ayutthaya historical documents show the official titles of the kings in great variation: Indra , Shiva and Vishnu , or Rama . Seemingly, Rama was the most popular, as in "Ramathibodhi". However, Buddhist influence was also evident, as many times the king's title and "unofficial" name "Dhammaraja", an abbreviation of
15327-497: Was attended by the king and queen and royal visitors from 26 other countries. On 13 June, a state banquet for the royal visitors was held in the newly constructed Rama IX Throne Hall at the Grand Palace, the first official function of the hall. The Chiang Mai Royal Floral Expo was also held to honour the anniversary. On the evening of 19 September, the Thai military overthrew the Thaksin government and seized control of Bangkok in
15458-624: Was born at Cambridge Hospital (now Mount Auburn Hospital ) in Cambridge, Massachusetts , United States, on 5 December 1927, during the reign of his paternal uncle, King Rama VII (Prajadhipok). He was the youngest son of Prince Mahidol Adulyadej , the Prince of Songkla, and his commoner wife Mom Sangwan (later Princess Srinagarindra , the Princess Mother). His father was enrolled in the public health program at Harvard University , which
15589-650: Was declared the national day , replacing the previous national day, the anniversary of the Siamese revolution of 1932 (24 June). Upon Sarit's death on 8 December 1963, an unprecedented 21 days of mourning were declared in the palace. A royal five-tier umbrella shaded his body while it lay in state. Long-time royal adviser Phraya Srivisaravacha later noted that no Prime Minister ever had such an intimate relationship with Bhumibol as Sarit. Bhumibol biographer Paul Handley, in The King Never Smiles , writes that
15720-536: Was ever produced to verify the existence of such a plot, and Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai party vehemently denied the accusations and sued the accusers. In a rare, televised speech to senior judges, Bhumibol requested the judiciary to take action to resolve the political crisis. On 8 May 2006, the Constitutional Court invalidated the results of the April elections and ordered new elections scheduled for 15 October 2006 . The Criminal Court later jailed
15851-464: Was highly revered by the people in Thailand—some saw him as close to divine . Notable political activists and Thai citizens who criticized the king or the institution of monarchy were often forced into exile or suffered frequent imprisonments. His cremation was held in 2017 at the royal crematorium at Sanam Luang . His son, Vajiralongkorn , succeeded him as King Rama X of Thailand. Bhumibol
15982-539: Was hospitalised in Lausanne, Sirikit visited him frequently. She met his mother, who asked her to continue her studies nearby so that Bhumibol could get to know her better. Bhumibol selected for her a boarding school in Lausanne, Riante Rive. A quiet engagement in Lausanne followed on 19 July 1949, and they were married on 28 April 1950, just a week before his coronation. Their wedding was described by The New York Times as "the shortest, simplest royal wedding ever held in
16113-421: Was little more than a ceremonial figure under the military-dominated government. In August 1957, six months after parliamentary elections, General Sarit Thanarat accused the government of Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram of lèse-majesté due to its conduct of the 2,500th anniversary celebration of Buddhism . On 16 September 1957, Phibunsongkhram went to Bhumibol to seek support for his government. Bhumibol advised
16244-404: Was made queen ( Somdej Phra Boromarajini ). The date of his coronation is celebrated each 5 May in Thailand as Coronation Day , a public holiday. The royal couple spent their honeymoon at Hua Hin before they returned to Switzerland, where the king completed his university studies. They returned to Thailand in 1951. Following the death of his grandmother Queen Savang Vadhana , Bhumibol entered
16375-623: Was one of the few occasions in which Bhumibol directly and publicly intervened in a political conflict. A general election was held shortly afterward, leading to a civilian government. Weeks before the April 2006 legislative election , the Democrat Party -led opposition and the People's Alliance for Democracy petitioned Bhumibol to appoint a replacement prime minister and cabinet. Demands for royal intervention were met with much criticism from
16506-508: Was pressured to relinquish control of its old tributaries of Laos and northern Malaya to Western powers, Siam itself narrowly avoided being colonized. In 1905, 37 years after his coronation, Chulalongkorn ended slavery with the Slave Abolition Act. In 1867 slaves accounted for one-third of the Siamese population. His son, Vajiravudh (Rama VI), ascended to the throne in 1910 and continued his father's zeal for reform to bring
16637-530: Was revived in certain situations and the royal-sponsored Thammayut Nikaya order was revitalised. For the first time since the absolute monarchy was overthrown, a king was conveyed up the Chao Phraya River in a Royal Barge Procession to offer robes at temples. Other disused ceremonies from the classical period of the Chakri Dynasty , such as the royally patronised ploughing ceremony (Thai: พิธีพืชมงคล), were also revived. Bhumibol's birthday (5 December)
16768-522: Was sometimes referred to as King Rama IX in English, Thais referred to him as Nai Luang or Phra Chao Yu Hua , which translated to "the King" and "Lord Upon our Heads", respectively. He was also called Chao Chiwit ("Lord of Life"). Formally, he was referred to as Phrabat Somdet Phra Chao Yu Hua or, in legal documents, Phrabat Somdet Phra Paraminthara Maha Bhumibol Adulyadej , and in English as "His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej". He signed his name as ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช ป.ร. (Bhumibol Adulyadej Por Ror,
16899-500: Was then 15 years old and training to be a concert pianist. On 4 October 1948, while Bhumibol was driving a Fiat Topolino on the Geneva - Lausanne road, he collided with the rear of a braking truck 10 km outside Lausanne. He injured his back, suffered paralysis in half of his face and incurred cuts on his face that cost him the sight of his right eye . Both the royal cremation and coronation had to be postponed once more. While he
17030-409: Was used on its own to refer to a North Indian script, or perhaps a number of such scripts, as Al-Biruni attests in the 11th century; the form Devanāgarī is attested later, at least by the 18th century. The name of the Nandināgarī script is also formed by adding a prefix to the generic script name nāgarī . The precise origin and significance of the prefix deva remains unclear. Devanāgarī
17161-479: Was virtually impossible. Three palace aides ( Chit Singhaseni , But Patthamasarin , and Chaliao Pathumrot ) were eventually convicted of regicide , and were executed by firing squad on 17 February 1955, after their appeals for clemency were rejected by Bhumibol. A third possibility, that Bhumibol accidentally shot his brother while the brothers played with their pistols, was never officially considered. Bhumibol succeeded his brother, but returned to Switzerland before
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