The only coronation that most Thais will see in their lifetimes, it’s also designed to unite a politically divided country before the announcement May 9 of the results of the first election since a 2014 military coup.
People walk past a portrait of King Maha Vajiralongkorn at Bangkok's Siam Paragon shopping center on Thursday.
of the zealously private monarch, who has rarely appeared before his 69 million subjects since assuming the throne when his father died 2½ years ago.That will change when Vajiralongkorn is officially crowned in three days of elaborate ceremonies beginning on Saturday, the first coronation in this Southeast Asian kingdom in nearly seven decades.
At precisely 10:09 a.m. Saturday, a time deemed auspicious by royal astrologers, the king will take a purification bath with waters collected from across the country and blessed by Brahmin priests, then sit atop a gilded throne to receive a golden plaque, regalia and ceremonial weapons, according to a schedule released by the government public relations department.
Tens of thousands of government employees and Thais dressed in yellow, the color of the king, are expected to line the roads of central Bangkok for a glimpse of the monarch, who will reign as King Rama X of the Chakri dynasty. Vajiralongkorn has shown little appetite for the public aspects of his position, continuing to spend much of his time at villas he owns in Germany. He remains an enigma to many Thais, with a colorful but closely guarded private life whose details occasionally spill into public view., a former flight attendant named Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya, and promoted her to Queen Suthida.
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