Death and funeral of Bhumibol Adulyadej


King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand died at the age of 88 on 13 October 2016, after a long illness. A year-long period of mourning was subsequently announced. A royal cremation ceremony took place over five days at the end of October 2017. The actual cremation, which was not broadcast on television, was held in the late evening of 26 October 2017. Following cremation his remains and ashes were taken to the Grand Palace and were enshrined at the Chakri Maha Phasat Throne Hall, the Royal Cemetery at Wat Ratchabophit and the Wat Bowonniwet Vihara Royal Temple. Following burial, the mourning period officially ended on midnight of 30 October 2017 and Thais have resumed wearing regular colours.

Illness and death

King Bhumibol Adulyadej had been treated at Siriraj Hospital since 3 October 2014. The king had a high fever due to sepsis, which improved following antibiotics treatment. Until 28 September 2016, King Bhumibol developed a low grade fever as a consequence of pneumonitis and required further treatment with antibiotics. The king subsequently developed organ failure owing to hypotension and became dependent on hemodialysis due to kidney failure. King Bhumibol's condition became significantly unstable due to evolving acute hepatitis.
The king died at Siriraj Hospital on 13 October 2016 at 15:52 local time. The Bureau of the Royal Household officially announced his death at 18:45, less than 3 hours after the actual time of his passing.

Reactions

Funeral

On 14 October 2016, the body of the late king was carried by an autocade from Siriraj Hospital to the Grand Palace. His body left Gate 8 of the hospital around 16:30. As the cortege passed Arun Ammarin Road, Phra Pin Klao Bridge, and Ratchadamnoen Road, crowds of Thais, most clad in black and many openly sobbing, paid homage. Led by Somdej Phra Vanarata, the abbot of Wat Bowonniwet Vihara, the autocade entered the palace via Thewaphirom Gate. Upon arrival at the palace, the body was given the bathing rite, presided over by the late king's son, King Vajiralongkorn. The event was live broadcast on television by the television pool of Thailand.
The general public were allowed to take part in a symbolic bathing rite in front of the king's portrait at Sahathai Samakhom Pavilion within the Grand Palace later that day.

Lying in State

The king's body lay in state in the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall of the Grand Palace for a period of one year, with daily rites for a period of 100 days. As in the funerals of the king's mother and sister, the king's body was not physically placed in the royal funerary urn as was customary; instead, the coffin which housed the body was placed behind the pedestal displaying the royal urn. Special rites attended by King Vajiralongkorn were held to mark the 7th, 15th, 50th and 100th days since the king's death. After the 15th day, the public were allowed to pay their respects and attend the lying-in-state in the Grand Palace. By the end of the allowed public attendance on 30 September 2017, over 12 million people had paid their respects in person, a historic record crowd that, including foreign tourists and expats living in Thailand, broke all-time attendance records and left an estimated 890 million Thai baht in donations for the royal charity activities.
The foreign dignitaries who attended the lying-in-state or paid respect at the Grand Palace were as follows :
CountryTitleDignitaryDate
King of BhutanJigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck16 October 2016
Queen of BhutanJetsun Pema16 October 2016
Prime MinisterKhalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa18 October 2016
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong21 October 2016
Special Envoy of the PresidentMohamed Saeed21 October 2016
Prime MinisterNajib Razak22 October 2016
Prime MinisterHun Sen22 October 2016
Deputy Prime MinisterTea Banh 22 October 2016
Special Envoy of the PresidentLi Yuanchao22 October 2016
Prime MinisterThongloun Sisoulith24 October 2016
PresidentTony Tan24 October 2016
PresidentJoko Widodo25 October 2016
Special Envoy of the PresidentBala Garba Jahumpa 25 October 2016
Prime MinisterNguyễn Xuân Phúc28 October 2016
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena30 October 2016
King of LesothoLetsie III2 November 2016
PresidentHtin Kyaw9 November 2016
PresidentRodrigo Duterte9 November 2016
Special Envoy of the KingNicolas Nihon9 November 2016
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi10 November 2016
Special Envoy of the PresidentTarana Halim15 November 2016
Crown Prince of TongaTupoutoʻa ʻUlukalala15 November 2016
Special Envoy of the PresidentHernâni Coelho16 November 2016
Special Envoy of the PresidentAndrey Klishas30 November 2016
Queen Grandmother of BhutanKesang Choden20 December 2016
Princess of BhutanPema Lhaden20 December 2016
Emperor of JapanAkihito5 March 2017
Empress of JapanMichiko5 March 2017
King of BahrainHamad bin Isa Al Khalifa5 May 2017
PresidentBidhya Devi Bhandari12 May 2017
PresidentDalia Grybauskaitė14 May 2017
Special Envoy of the PresidentEduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle1 June 2017
Minister of TradeTodd McClay24 July 2017
Minister for Foreign AffairsJulie Bishop3 August 2017
Chief ExecutiveCarrie Lam4 August 2017
Secretary of StateRex Tillerson8 August 2017
King of TongaTupou VI27 September 2017
Queen of TongaNanasipauʻu Tukuʻaho27 September 2017
Queen Mother of BhutanTshering Yangdon6 October 2017
Queen Mother of BhutanSangay Choden6 October 2017

Special nationwide services in all Buddhist temples together with a general 100th day memorial service were held to mark the 100 day mark since his death on 20 January 2017 with King Vajiralongkorn presiding over the national service.
On 28 February 2017, a special Royal Kong Tek ceremony was held, presided by King Vajiralongkorn at the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall and was led by monks from the Thai Chinese Buddhist community in the Bangkok area. The service was in keeping with Chinese Buddhist rites and customs regarding the dead. The Kong Tek ceremony was a Buddhist religious ceremony unique to the Chinese wherein the deceased, together with his personal effects and clothing, was transferred ceremonially to the next life, with special prayers and chants sung by monks. The event was unprecedented since it was the first time such a ritual was held for any member of the Thai royal family in an official capacity.

Cremation

The public square Sanam Luang used as the cremation ground, where the construction of an elaborate, temporary crematorium was started in early 2017 and took only 8 months to complete. The government granted one billion baht, deducted from central budget, to cover the construction. Once the cremation is over, the crematorium opens for public visits for a month before being torn down in January 2018.
Designs for the cremation complex were officially unveiled on 28 October 2016, and a special ceremony was held on 19 December for the royal funeral chariots to be used at the Bangkok National Museum. The construction work for the complex officially commenced on 27 February 2017 with the building of the central column with a September target completion date. The crematorium was the biggest, largest and tallest yet since the state cremation rites for King Rama V in 1911, and unlike past state cremations, will be at the larger northern segment of the Sanam Luang Royal Square instead of the southern segment where cremations were held before.
On 19 November the Ministry of Culture's Fine Arts Department head Anant Chuchote visited Nakhon Pathom, where the royal funeral urns have been manufactured for centuries out of old sandalwood trees. He asked for public support and assistance for the making of the royal urn alongside 150 artisans from the Traditional Arts Office. The department issued a job hiring call in the middle of January 2017 for prospective workers in the Sanam Luang royal crematorium complex and for the needed chariot repair and upgrading works.
As of 12 February 2017, the government pavilion and the Buddhist chapel were under construction. Concurrently, the Royal Thai Army began manufacturing a new royal cannon chariot for the state cremation ceremonies, a first after many years, timed to be completed in April 2017 for delivery to the Fine Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture. The designs of the buildings combine both Thai traditional and modern building design and construction methods.
The construction process for the royal crematiorium itself commenced with due ceremony on the morning of 27 February 2017 in the Sanam Luang Plaza, in the presence of the Prime Minister of Thailand Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha. At the right moment, the central steel beam of the building was hoisted using a crane towards its spot in the plaza worksite after a Brahmin blessing was bestowed on it.
By 1 April, the crematorium complex area had seen construction work faster than the usual practice for royal cremations, with all buildings in the middle of the construction phrase earlier than expected. The FAD had also been tasked to undergo a major design remodeling for the main royal urn to be used in the ceremonies and an October date is expected to be chosen for the events. The cannon chariot which was based on those used in British state and royal funerals was officially finished by the end of the month and delivered to the FAD so that the decoration process can begin in time for their debut in the funeral events later in the year.
The national cremation in the Sanam Luang Plaza took place on 26 October 2017, 13 days after the 1st anniversary of the King's death. Just as in past state cremations since 1995, a special Khon performance was held in the plaza grounds, organized by The Foundation of the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand and the Bunditphatthanasilpa Institute. Given the huge importance of such an event, the official practice runs for this began as early as 15–16 May with the RTA Ordnance Division spearheading the runs simulating the funeral procession of the major chariots at Saraburi province, with two military vehicles to serve as simulators. For the royal puppet show, it was the first ever to feature a woman performer in keeping with the modern age - Ancharika Noosingha, 43 years old, who was the first lady royal puppeter in history, keeping a historic tradition from the Ayutthaya period. The Fine Arts Department Royal Music and Drama Office organized the puppet play and its personnel form part of the cast who will perform on the cremation night.
The Nation reported on 11 May that the funeral crematorium and the monastic pavilion are almost ready for an early completion, the fastest yet for royal funerals in the modern era, and the prefabrication processes for the decorations to be used in the buildings are at the final stage. At the same time, the sandalwood corn flowers used for state funerals were made to be used by citizens and foreign attendants attending the services, as the kalamet flowers, protected by law, will only be used in the royal crematorium. The practice of making flowers from corn leaves, through, was a modern practice which began in 1925 during the state funeral of King Vajiravudh.
As of 24 September more than 5,500 people signed up to volunteer to serve during the cremation days. To encourage greater public participation, several Thai provincial capitals had been building replica crematoriums to serve people who cannot be in Bangkok to pay their last respects on the cremation date while both the public and tourists joining the events rode the Bangkok MRT system and the BTS Skytrain lines during the cremation days free of charge, as well as on the public ferries at Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem and Khlong Pasicharoen and the Bangkok BRT. The Ministry of Public Health was expected to deploy huge numbers of medical personnel to serve the public and foreign visitors during these days and provide medical assistance. While social media live reports are prohibited for the TV networks, people will still post live feeds but with difficulty and the national and international press have been given a special media center at the Thammasat University.
In early August, plans were finalized to open the cremation site for public and tourist visitation after the cremation ceremonies.

Foreign dignitaries attending the funeral

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said of the 42 countries represented, 24 countries had their royal heads of states, heads of states and royal family members attending the ceremony, and 18 countries will have had their deputy heads of states, government leaders, and special representatives attending the ceremony.

Royal Guests

Others

Timeline of the royal cremation

to be livestreamed both in Thai and English via the official funeral website and FB page, NBT World and the Thai PBS and Channel 9 MCOT HD YouTube pages

From the Deva Phirom gate towards the southeastern end of the Grand Palace walls

The government declared a year-long mourning period for Bhumibol. Citizens were asked to refrain from participating in "joyful events" and entertainment for 30 days following his death; as a result, a number of events, including sports, were cancelled or postponed. Entertainment outlets such as cinemas, nightclubs and theatres announced that they would shut down or operate under reduced hours during this period. The mourning period prompted concerns from Thailand's tourism industry, which felt that the mood of the country, as well as the cancelled events, would reduce interest in visiting Thailand.
Upon the announcement of his death, all television channels suspended regular programming and simulcast special programmes from the television pool of Thailand, which consisted of monochrome videos and photos of Bhumibol, and coverage of royal events. International channels were also blacked out and replaced by this programming. Following the funeral procession on 14 October 2016, the channels continued to air the pooled tribute content until midnight local time, after which they were allowed to resume regular programming. However, for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period, all broadcasters were forbidden from broadcasting programmes that featured "any element of entertainment, dancing, joy, violence, impoliteness or overly expressed emotion", nor any non-official information, speculation or criticism related to the deceased King and his successor. Most Thai media outlets and websites switched to greyscale colour schemes as well. After a brief return to monochrome for the King's 1st death anniversary on 13 October 2017, colour television broadcasts, with the same restrictions are before, resumed on 19 October the same year.
Out of respect for the mourning, many Thai malls, including all Central Pattana and The Mall Group properties, chose not to install extensive Christmas displays and decorations for the holiday season. Some installed memorials to Bhumibol instead.

Aftermath

Since the death of the king, ultra-royalists in Thailand have criticized and harassed those who did not wear mourning black. They also subjected to witch-hunts people whom they accused of disrespecting the deceased monarch. On 14 October 2016, angry ultra-royalist groups in Phuket Province thronged the residence of a man who posted on social media a number of comments which they thought offensive to the late king and violated the lèse-majesté law, despite the local police having declared that the comments were not in breach of the law. The groups dispersed after the police agreed to prosecute the man for the crime of lèse-majesté. Similar incidents happened on the following day in Phang Nga Province.
In November 2016, Nangrong School in Buriram Province seized colourful winter jackets from students and required them to wear those in mourning colours only. The students were reportedly distressed to lose their jackets due to the cold weather, and many did not own multiple warm articles of clothing.
On 28 November, the director of a public school in Ranong Province was removed from office for not wearing mourning black on her first day at work.
The National Council for Peace and Order, the junta ruling Thailand, also announced after the death of Bhumibol that it will hunt down lèse-majesté fugitives.