Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Thai succession

Interesting article from the Vancouver Sun

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=c1ba8118-2cbc-429c-8458-b931c1fc1757

2 comments:

John said...

Marlene, when I visited Thailand many years ago (I think 1996), I was struck with a common sight that suprised me very much. Many people wear tiny portraits of the royal family set in gold frames, and wear them them gold chains around their necks. Such reverence, for their royal family. Shops all have portraits of The King and his family in them too, and other business places. Fascinating!
I would think that the succession is assured and set in stone, right? But from I have read of Princess Sirindhorn, she would be an admirable queen if by some accident of birth it was her role to be the next sovereign and not The Crown Prince.

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

I do not think that the succession is set is stone due to tjhe Crown Prince's life. It more interesting to me that the article made reference to the princess's private life. I would doubt that the Thai media would report this.

However, if you insult the king, whether spoken or written, you can go to jail.