In the spring of 1975 the dominoes were falling in Southeast Asia: The Khmer Rouge were exterminating Cambodia’s urban populations and Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese. By the end of the year Lao king Savang Vatthana was under house arrest.
Thailand was expected to fall next, yet didn’t. Thailand not only survived but would become one of the most prosperous countries in the region thanks to Bhumibol Adulyadej, the Chakri dynasty’s ninth king, or Rama IX. He died this month at age 88.
Born in Cambridge, Mass., Bhumibol was slight, bespectacled, and blind in one eye. He became king in 1950 after the mysterious death of his brother, Rama VIII. Chakri dynasty monarchs were considered “Lords of Life” and from his earliest days on the throne Bhumibol’s subjects regarded him as a bodhisattva, a spiritual being who delays ascension to Nirvana in order to remain on earth to help humanity.
He earned his demigod status in part from his commitment to rural development, road and school building, and his personal determination to see projects through to completion. In the years after the fall of Indochina, Bhumibol spent much of his time in the poorest parts of his kingdom leading convoys of Land Rovers packed with civil engineers, agronomists, and irrigation specialists whom he charged with transforming slash-and-burn opium fields into orchards, vegetable gardens, and fish farms.
Dressed in a safari suit with a roll of topographical maps under his arm and a camera dangling from his neck, Bhumibol would spend hours talking with farmers; he would return to make sure provincial officials used development funds wisely. By 1982, the bicentennial of the Chakri dynasty, the north was crisscrossed with farm-to-market roads. Strawberries and lettuce had become major cash crops.
Bhumibol’s wife, Queen Sirikit, accompanied him on many development trips, working with rural women to start silk-weaving cooperatives and other handicraft industries. Often they were joined by their daughter Sirindhorn, the third of four children; Thais call her “Princess Angel” because of her easy rapport with farmers and support for numerous charities. In 1977, during his birthday celebration, King Bhumibol elevated Sirindhorn in rank to ensure his daughter could serve as a crown princess in the event of an emergency. Years later, in a private conversation with U.S. ambassador to Thailand Ralph Boyce, Bhumibol said of his daughter, “I have four children but she is the only one who kneels on the ground with the people.”
The heir conspicuously absent from the meetings with farm families was the king’s son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn. Devoted to fast cars, beautiful women, and airplanes, Vajiralongkorn has evidenced little interest in rural development or the ceremonial duties required of the royal family.
A career army officer and fighter pilot, Vajiralongkorn spends much of his time in southern Germany, where he owns two villas. Now back in Bangkok, Vajiralongkorn will observe a hundred-day mourning period. His formal coronation as king is expected to occur after a year, but most Thais doubt he will ever acquire the virtues of monogamy, thrift, and Buddhist piety exhibited by his father.
In a 1981 news conference in Houston, Queen Sirikit admitted her son might be unsuited to be Thailand’s Rama X. “My son the crown prince is a little bit of a Don Juan,” she said. “He’s a good student, a good boy, but women find him interesting and he finds women even more interesting. . . . If the people of Thailand do not approve of the behavior of my son, then he would either have to change his behavior or resign from the royal family.”
Thais have a relaxed attitude when it comes to sex. King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, had 77 children, 7 of whom he didn’t even bother to name. But Rama V’s couplings occurred behind palace walls. Vajiralongkorn’s relationships are often uncomfortably public.
He left his first wife, Soamsawali, pregnant after one year of marriage and began a lengthy relationship with an aspiring actress who bore him four sons and a daughter. After divorcing his first wife, he married his mistress, but that relationship also ended in acrimony. In 2001, Vajiralongkorn married wife No. 3, a Thai beauty named Srirasmi. She gave him a son, who joined his father as the only other male heir to the Chakri throne.
The couple drew unwanted notoriety in 2007 when a grainy video circulated showing them celebrating the birthday of their white poodle, Foo Foo. Clad only in a G-string while attended by white-gloved waiters, Srirasmi serves her little Foo Foo cake. If the dog seemed excited it probably was because it had recently received the rank of air chief marshal in the Thai military. (Many of the most embarrassing revelations about the Crown Prince, it should be said, are owed to the reporting of the Scottish journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall.)
Vajiralongkorn may now keep his extracurricular cavorting hidden, but reining in his less temperate impulses will be more difficult. A 1987 state visit to Japan began inauspiciously when he left his wife at home and insisted a mistress be welcomed with honors. Tokyo refused, citing diplomatic protocol. Vajiralongkorn went anyway but left in a huff three days early following a series of perceived slights. Nor was that the last crisis requiring diplomatic intervention. In 2007, Vajiralongkorn canceled a trip to China when Beijing denied his request for “special VIP treatment.”
Some observers who closely follow the royal family doubt the crown prince really wants the responsibility that comes with being king. Although his father had been hospitalized with Parkinson’s and depression for a number of years, it was not until the day before his death that Vajiralongkorn returned home.
An old prophecy holds that the Chakri dynasty will last only nine generations, making Bhumibol the last of his line. Most Thais, however, aren’t ready to give up their monarchy, given the growing threat to national unity from Muslim separatists in Thailand’s south and young republicans in the northeast who want Bangkok royalists to share a larger slice of the economic pie.
Also left unresolved is the future of Thailand’s Crown Property Bureau, a royal trust that controls more than $37 billion in assets that annually produce hundreds of millions in revenue. In a country where per capita GDP barely tops $16,000, Chakri wealth was never an issue during Bhumibol’s reign. But crown property money that can only be spent “at the king’s pleasure” could face demands for more transparency under a different monarch.
Thailand makes it difficult to discuss succession: The strictly enforced lèse-majesté law punishes with up to 15 years in prison anyone who defames or insults the royal family. The law has caused friction with the United States. Late last year, American ambassador Glyn Davies gave a speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand criticizing “the lengthy and unprecedented prison sentences handed down by Thai military courts against civilians” convicted of defamation. Thailand signaled its displeasure by ordering police to investigate Davies despite his diplomatic immunity. Given the Philippines’ recent pro-China tilt, Washington risks alienating its most reliable ally in the region if it again lectures Bangkok on domestic issues.
Thailand’s constitutional monarchy is the center of gravity that holds Thai society together. The king’s portrait adorns every schoolroom, hotel lobby, government office, and bank note. No military junta or political party can stand without the king’s tacit approval. At least that was the case under Rama IX. Thailand and the United States are entering a period of uncertainty not experienced for decades.
David DeVoss spent seven years in Thailand reporting for Time magazine.
