Waiting for the King, 2006

Every year on 5th December, the present King’s birthday, which is also designated National Father’s Day, tens of thousands of His Majesty’s subjects would congregate on the Royal Ground and along the route of the Royal Motorcade to greet their King as he travels from his residential palace to the ceremonial Grand Palace for religious rites. 2006 was a special year for Thailand, as it was the 60th anniversary of the King’s coronation (making him the longest reigning monarch in the world today). As one, the Thai people put on yellow shirts (the Thai colour for Monday, the day of his birth) embroidered with the official 60th anniversary royal insignia, and waited for the King’s motorcade to pass. It seems that the present King has been able to build up the sanctity and popularity of the institution of the monarchy (which fell on dark times immediately after the end of the Absolute Monarchy in 1932) to an unprecedented degree.