Thailand's new king leads mourners in father's funeral

Thailand's new king leads mourners in father's funeral



Thailand's new king today picked bits of his father's charred bones and remains to be enshrined as relics after a spectacular cremation last night.



He then led a procession of the ashes through the streets of Bangkok as part of an elaborate five-day funeral that drew hundreds of thousands of black-clad mourners to the city's historic old quarter.



King Bhumibol was the world's longest-reigning monarch when he died a year ago aged 88.



King Maha Vajiralongkorn presided over the burning of his father's remains in a golden crematorium at a late-night ceremony in the Thai capital on Thursday.



Thousands of mourners stayed to watch as smoke rose from the crematorium with many sobbing and crying loudly.



The crowds had diminished on Friday, but thousands of people still lined the streets to glimpse what they could of a ceremony that in total cost $90million.



'I can't express my sadness at the loss. It's like a child longing for a parent,' said Boonpherm Buatho, 56, a housekeeper.



Shielded from the sun by a large white-and-gold umbrella, King Vajiralongkorn led a religious ceremony to return his father's remains to the palace. He sprinkled the bones with sacred water as classical Thai music played.



The remains were blessed by Thailand's Supreme Patriarch, the head of the order of Buddhist monks. The late king's bones were then taken to the Grand Palace, where he has lain in state since his death last October.



Although Thailand does not conduct polls on the monarchy's popularity - partly because of strict laws that protect the royal family from insult - the king built up a wide personal following and is often referred to as 'father'.



The ceremony on Thursday brought Thailand to a standstill as many businesses, including banks, shut to honour the late king.



The late king's nine-spired crematorium, built to honour the ninth king of the Chakri Dynasty, features intricate carvings and staircases with sculptures of nagas - a half-human, half- cobra beings - among other mythical creatures.



Pictures of mourners wearing black and holding photographs of the late king flooded social media in Thailand, with many using popular hashtags such as #rama9, #kingofkings, and #thegreatestking.



The first of those temples contains the ashes of many royals. The second is where King Bhumibol was ordained as a monk - a tradition for many Thai men - and is the centre of the strict Thammayut sect founded by the late king's great grandfather.



Raised in Switzerland, Bhumibol ascended the throne aged 18 in 1946 after his elder brother Ananda Mahidol was shot dead in mysterious circumstances at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.





He was crowned four years later, inheriting a monarchy whose power was in steady decline. By time of his death, all of that had changed.



Bhumibol left behind one of the world's richest monarchies, with the palace the pivot point of Thailand's power networks including the influential military.



'Thailand needed a king as rallying and unifying symbol and a young king found a people to rebuild a kingdom around,' explained Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a politics professor at Chulalongkorn University.



A revival of antiquated palace rituals - including prostration in his presence - and spiritual duties gilded the throne, elevating Bhumibol to a semi-divine status.



That deification made scenes of his engagement with ordinary Thais even more remarkable to a nation awed by his work ethic.



Over years spent criss-crossing Thailand, Bhumibol seeded thousands of well-publicised royal projects in a poor, agrarian country that won him the moniker the 'Development King'



His seven-decade rule spanned some of the most tumultuous moments in modern Thai history, including several coups, a deadly crackdown on student protesters, natural disasters and a regional financial crisis.