Thailand’s newly-crowned King Maha Vajiralongkorn was carried by soldiers on a gilded palanquin through the streets of Bangkok on Sunday, in front of crowds who craned to witness the historic event.
The king, Rama X of the Chakri dynasty, wore a bejewelled robe and broad-brimmed hat with a feather on the second of three days of pageantry and royal splendour. The 7-kilometre procession brings the public into close proximity with the 66-year-old monarch for the first time, two years after he ascended the throne in an increasingly assertive reign.
It started around 5pm (1000 GMT) at the grand palace in Bangkok’s old quarter as trumpets blared, soldiers shouted commands and cannons fired a 21-gun salute. Thais wearing yellow shirts — the royal colour — and carrying hats and umbrellas to protect against temperatures reaching 36 degrees Celsius filled the streets outside with many clutching portraits of Vajiralongkorn and shouting “Long live the King! “It may be my first and last chance to see this,” 57-year-old street Nattriya Siripattana told AFP ahead of the first ceremony of its kind in 69 years.
The three-day coronation, which started Saturday, is the first since Vajiralongkorn’s adored and revered father was crowned in 1950.
The highlight of Saturday’s sombre ceremonies was the King’s anointment with holy water, before he placed the 7.3 kilogram (16 lbs) golden tiered crown on his head. Early Sunday, the king bestowed royal titles on family members who crawled to his throne in a striking show of deference to the monarch, who was joined by his new Queen Suthida. The queen, 40, was deputy commander of the king’s royal guard before her marriage to Vajiralongkorn, which was announced days before the coronation. During the procession, she marched in red and black uniform next to the palanquin. Thailand’s monarchy is swaddled in ritual, protocol and hierarchy all orbiting around the king, who is viewed as a demigod.
During the hours-long procession Thais will have the opportunity to “pay homage” to the king who will also stop at several major temples to pray before large gilded Buddha images.