Happy Birthday your Majesty

Bhumibol Adulyadej (Royal Institute: Phumiphon Adunyadet; Thai: ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช, pronounced [pʰuːmipʰon adunjadeːt]( listen);^{[missing tone]} see full title below) (born 5 December 1927), is the current King of Thailand. Publicly acclaimed "the Great" (Thai: มหาราช, Maharaja), he is also known as Rama IX. Having reigned since 9 June 1946, he is the world's longest-serving current head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history.^[1] He is seen as so important by the Thai people that his ill-health has affected the markets.^[2]

Although King Bhumibol is a constitutional monarch, it is said that he has made several decisive interventions in Thai politics when there was bloodshed or when Thailand was in turmoil. He was credited with facilitating Thailand's transition to democracy in the 1990s, although he has supported some military regimes, including Sarit Dhanarajata during the 1960s and the Council for Democratic Reform in 2006-2008. During his long reign he has presided over 15 coups, 16 constitutions, and 27 changes of prime ministers.^[3]

The King is highly revered by the public, yet he is also protected by the Constitution as "inviolable". The so-called 'lèse majesté' statute was stated in the Constitution for the first time during the Rama VII reign after the quarrel between the monarch and an individual. The monarch himself then has no right to charge anyone who violates him. Anyone who is charged with insulting, or defaming him can be prosecuted. If proven guilty, the penalty is to be jailed for three to fifteen years. In his 2005 birthday speech, Bhumibol said he would not take lèse majesté seriously, and that the King can have flaws. Despite that, charges are still often significant, and can be brought by the state, or any individual, and often a person's political opponents during the turmoil.

Early life

Bhumibol (center) with his Mother and siblings (Ananda Mahidol (left) and Galyani Vadhana (right)).

Bhumibol was born at the Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States on 5 December 1927 ^[4]. He was the younger son of HRH Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and Mom Sangwal (later Somdej Phra Sri Nakarindhara Boromaratchachonnani). At the time of his birth, he was known in Thailand as Phra Worawongse Ther Phra Ong Chao Bhumibol Adulyadej.(พระวรวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าภูมิพลอดุลยเดช), reflecting the fact that his mother was a commoner. Had he been born a few years earlier, before his uncle King Prajadhipok passed a law allowing children of a prince and a commoner to be called Phra Ong Chao (a prince of a lesser status than Chao Fa) , he would have been called Mom Chao (the most junior class of the Thai princes), as were his older brother and sister.^[5] His name, Bhumibol Adulyadej, means "Strength of the Land, Incomparable Power".^[6]

Bhumibol came to Thailand in 1928, after Prince Mahidol obtained a certificate in the Public Health programme at Harvard University. He briefly attended Mater Dei school in Bangkok but in 1933 his mother took the family to Switzerland, where he continued his education at the École Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande in Lausanne. In 1935 his elder brother, Phra Ong Chao Ananda Mahidol, became King of Thailand, and elevated Bhumibol and his sister to Chao Fa status, the most senior class of the Thai princes and princesses. The family came to Thailand briefly in 1938 for Ananda Mahidol's coronation, but then returned to Switzerland. He received the baccalauréat des lettres (high-school diploma with major in French literature, Latin, and Greek) from the Gymnase Classique Cantonal of Lausanne, and by 1945 had begun studying science at the University of Lausanne, when World War II ended and the family returned to Thailand.^[7]

Succession and marriage

Bhumbol and Sirikit after their wedding.

Bhumibol ascended the throne following the death of his brother, King Ananda Mahidol, on 9 June 1946. Ananda Mahidol's death resulted from a gunshot wound to the head while in his bedroom in the Baromphiman Hall in the Grand Palace, under circumstances that to this day remain a mystery.^[8] Bhumibol then returned to Switzerland in order to complete his education, and his uncle, Rangsit, Prince of Chainat, was appointed Prince Regent. Bhumibol switched over his field of study to law and political science in order to prepare himself more effectively for his new position as ruler.

While finishing his degree in Switzerland, Bhumibol visited Paris frequently. It was in Paris that he first met a first cousin once removed, Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara, daughter of the Thai ambassador to France.^[9] He was 21 and she was 15. Bhumibol became a regular visitor to the ambassador's residence.

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 of Lausanne. He hurt his back and incurred cuts on his face that cost him the sight of his right eye.^[10][11][12] He subsequently wore an ocular prosthetic. While he 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 the couple were married on 28 April 1950, just a week before his coronation.