Who they were
Bhumibol was born on December 5, 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his father was studying at Harvard, and was educated in Switzerland. He succeeded his elder brother, King Ananda Mahidol, who died in 1946. His 70-year reign, from June 9, 1946 to October 13, 2016, was the longest in Thai history, and at his death he was the world’s longest-reigning serving head of state.
What they did
As constitutional monarch across decades of political change, he came to be widely regarded as the unifying figure of modern Thailand. He initiated royal development projects — irrigation, watershed and soil work, and crop substitution in the northern hills — commonly counted at over 4,000, and after the 1997 crisis articulated the “sufficiency economy” philosophy. At moments of national crisis his interventions were widely seen as decisive: in October 1973 he opened palace gates to fleeing demonstrators, and in May 1992 his televised audience with the confronting leaders, Suchinda Kraprayoon and Chamlong Srimuang, was followed by an end to the violence. His record is also debated: after the October 6, 1976 massacre of students at Thammasat University, which followed the return of the exiled former ruler Thanom Kittikachorn, the king’s privy councillor Thanin Kraivichien was installed as prime minister, and in September 2006 he endorsed the military coup that had just seized power — episodes historians cite alongside the celebrated interventions; open assessment of his political role inside Thailand is constrained by the lèse-majesté law. He was also an accomplished jazz saxophonist and composer, a sailor who won a gold medal at a regional games, and a photographer.
Legacy
Revered as the father of the nation, he is commemorated on his birthday, December 5, which is Thailand’s National Day and Father’s Day. He was mourned for a year and cremated in October 2017, and was succeeded by his son Vajiralongkorn (Rama X).