Not much can bring the life of the noisy, traffic-clogged heart of Bangkok to a halt.

But on Wednesday the streets were hushed, the cars and buses banished.

All you could hear were speakers playing the royal anthem, and thousands of flags fluttering in the breeze, held by people of all ages.

Most were dressed in yellow and had waited for hours for a glimpse of a stiff and stern-faced old man passing in a motorcade, on his way to the gilded halls and temples of Bangkok’s Grand Palace.

And as it passed they shouted “Song Phra Charoen”, “Long Live Your Majesty”. Some had tears in their eyes.

What explains this extraordinary bond between people and monarch?

King Bhumibol Adulyadej is accorded an almost divine reverence, with titles like Phra Chao Yu Hua (Lord Upon our Heads) or Chao Chiwit (Lord of Life).

People prostrate themselves on the ground in his presence. Yet there is genuine affection too, and it goes both ways.

Thais talk of their love for him as though he were a cherished member of the family.

In his speeches to the nation he likes to joke and tease them.

Public relations

Earlier in his reign when he was younger and travelled a lot, he clearly enjoyed meeting and mixing with people from the poorest rural communities.

People often refer to his long life of service to the nation, to his experiments with agriculture and irrigation, many of them carried out on the grounds of his palace in Bangkok.

The formidable public relations machine which manages the monarchy’s image makes much of these experiments, as it does of the king’s other talents as a jazz musician and sailor.

But the real measure of these achievements is impossible to know in a country where all criticism of the monarchy is curtailed by the draconian lese majeste law (offence against the dignity of the monarch), and only lavish praise for the royal family can be published.

The reverence for the king seems rooted in something less worldly.

Time after time when Thais are asked about the virtues of King Bhumibol they refer to his proper adherence to the principles of “Dhamma”, Buddhist teachings and the Buddhist concept of righteousness.

Our political system has been unstable all the time. So whenever there is a political crisis people expect the King to solve the problem Prof Suchit Bunbongkarn

It is not just his practical deeds they are looking at, but his manner, his modesty, his reserve, his gentleness, and his apparent detachment from the world – qualities he has worked hard to perfect and project.

He is as much a spiritual leader as a worldly one.

During his six decades on the throne Thailand has undergone changes as wrenching as in any other country.

Per capita income has gone up 40-fold. An almost entirely agrarian society has become a substantially urban one. The economy has been swept along by the forces of globalisation.

Political upheaval

There have been other changes as well.

This king has reigned through 17 military coups and 26 prime ministers. The gap between rich and poor has widened, with conspicuous consumption and conspicuous corruption accepted as part of everyday life.

There has been a corresponding decline in traditional community and family values.

Amid this whirlwind, the king has remained a reassuring anchor, a man who embodies Thailand’s history but who has also come to embody integrity and detachment from the squalid realities of day-to-day politics and business.

He has lived the myth of the virtuous monarch so well that almost the entire population believes in it and takes comfort from it.

And it gives him a unique moral authority. When he speaks, people listen.

They may, and often do, fail to act on his advice. But he has been able to use that authority to settle a number of political crises.

I want to be making suits for him when he is 90 years old, when he is 100 – longer even.” Sompop Louilarpprasert King Bhumibol’s tailor

“If the country were in good shape politically, then the role of the constitutional monarch is not very difficult,” explains Suchit Bunbongkarn, professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University.

“But in the case of Thailand it is not easy because our political system has been unstable all the time. So whenever there is a political crisis people expect the king to solve the problem.”

Former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun describes King Bhumibol’s authority as “reserve power” that, because it has been used judiciously and sparingly, has been decisive in maintaining the country’s stability.

This power, he says, has been accumulated through a life of dedication to his job. It cannot, he points out, be inherited or passed on.

Fears and superstition

That explains the acute anxiety now over the king’s fragile health. Few imagine that any future monarch can match this one.

There are many reservations about the capabilities of his presumed heir, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, although these cannot be expressed publicly because of the lese majeste laws.

The succession itself is not completely clear, with the constitution leaving considerable powers to designate an heir to the 19-member Privy Council of senior advisors to the king.

The opacity that has preserved the mystique of monarchy in Thailand makes it impossible to discuss, let alone plan for the succession.

So Thais prefer not to think about it.

When I saw his tailor, Sompop Louilarpprasert, and asked him about the king’s recent spell in hospital, he brushed it aside.

“I want to be making suits for him when he is 90 years old, when he is 100 – longer even.”

It was Sompop who made the dazzling pink blazer the king wore when he came out of hospital.

Within hours, pink shirts were being sold in their thousands across the country, and there are days when some streets are a sea of pink.

In this superstitious country they now associate pink with the king’s recovery. It will bring him good fortune, they say.

By wearing it they are literally willing him to stay alive for them.

Historical context

The origins of Thailand began with the migration of peoples from Southern China in the 10th century and the establishment of the kingdoms of Sukhothai and, later, Ayutthaya. The states often waged war, and were both commonly under threat from neighboring Burma, Vietnam and the Cambodian Khmers. In the early 19th and 20th century, Thailand was threatened by European colonization but, unlike its neighbors, maintained its independence, eventually becoming one of Asia’s only states ruled by a dominant monarchy.

In 1932 a bloodless coup organized by the Peoples Party forced King Prajadhipok to abandon absolute monarchy for constitutional monarchy. The king continued to govern, but Prince Parbatra was taken hostage, although later released. The next month, acting on the advice of the council of the Peoples Party, the king dismissed his ministers and oversaw the creation of a new Siamese constitution.

Five months later, in April 1933, King Prajadhipok issued a decree proclaiming martial law, dissolving the Siamese parliament and putting aside the constitution.

King Prajadhipok eventually abdicated the throne on 2 March 1935, and his nephew Prince Ananda Mahidol assumed the role. The country’s name was changed from Siam to Thailand in July 1939. Upon the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the Thai authorities quickly announced their neutrality by signing non-aggression pacts with the Allies, the Treaty of Friendship with Japan, and by exchanging a ratification of a non-aggression pact with the UK.

Despite the agreements, it was announced on 21 December 1941, that Japan and Thailand were to sign a 10-year treaty under which the latter country agreed to assist Japan militarily, politically and economically against the Allies. With the closing of the war in 1945, it was revealed by the US Office of Strategic Services that Thailand had during the war acted as a secret partner of the UN while ostensibly masquerading as a Japanese “puppet” state. With the war over, Siam reverted back to its title of Thailand – recognition of the latter name had been withdrawn by the Allies after the Siamese declaration of war on the UK and the US.

Naval forces in Bangkok (the capital) attempted to carry out a coup d’etat on 29 June 1951, when the prime minister, Marshal Pibul Songgram, was abducted by insurgents. The “Liberation Army” established a new government with Sarasas Prahad as prime minister, after accusing the cabinet of being controlled by a “corrupt military clique.”

A second coup was carried out in Bangkok on 29 November – three days before the return from Europe of King Rama IX – by a group of high-ranking army, navy, and air force officers. The group overthrew the government, dissolved parliament, and appointed a provisional executive council. The leaders of the coup emphasized their loyalty to the king, and gave as the reason for their action the government’s failure to suppress corruption and to solve the problem of communism, which, they alleged, had widely penetrated the cabinet and parliament. The new government, they stated, would continue to maintain Thailand’s foreign policy of support for the ideals of the UN and of resistance to communism, and would afford protection and hospitality to all foreigners who respected the law.

With the outbreak and escalation of the Vietnam conflict (1965-1975), the US stationed over 35,000 troops in Thailand. US forces continued to be stationed in Thailand until their complete withdrawal in 1976.

The Thai armed forces carried out a bloodless coup in November 1971 when they dissolved the cabinet and both houses of parliament, suspended the constitution, and proclaimed martial law. The coup was led, against his own government, by Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn, the prime minister and supreme commander of the armed forces. Kittikachorns military government later resigned in 1973 after mass student demonstrations in Bangkok resulted in riots and heavy casualties.

The military coup d’etat of 1971 was the first of many coups, either successful or unsuccessful, that took place over the course of the ensuing years:

In 1976, the coalition government was overthrown by a military coup when a junta calling itself the “National Administrative Reform Council” seized power.

In 1977, another military coup was attempted in Bangkok but was suppressed within a few hours almost without bloodshed.

In 1978, Thanin Kraivichiens government was overthrown by a military coup in Bangkok, with a “Revolutionary Council” of 23 high-ranking officers taking power.

In 1991, Major General Chatichai Choonhavens leadership was toppled when the armed forces seized power in a bloodless coup. General Suchinda Kraprayoon, hitherto supreme commander of the armed forces, was appointed as prime minister in 1992. Later that year, massive demonstrations in Bangkok against his leadership result in a violent military crackdown.

In 2001, Thaksin Shinawatra, leader of the Thai Rak Thai party (TRT – Thais Love Thais), won a general election, narrowly failing to secure an unprecedented national absolute majority. Thaksin then won a second consecutive term with a landslide victory in February 2005. He later dissolved the National Assembly (the legislature) in February 2006, and called a general election three years ahead of schedule in response to an increasingly clamorous campaign for him to step down. However, Thaksin ignored the mass protests and refused to resign from his position.

Despite a boycott by the main opposition parties, the elections were held as planned. Thaksin was forced to step down in www.keesings.com/searchdue to post-election turmoil, but resumed the post in May 2006.

Army commander General Sonthi Boonyaratglin and five other generals staged a bloodless military coup in September 2006. Thaksin fled to exile in the UK. General (retd) Surayud Chulanont was chosen as interim prime minister by the Council for National Security (CNS).

In December 2006, a series of bomb explosions in Bangkok left three people dead and at least 34 wounded, including eight foreign tourists.

Both Surayud and Boonyaratglin, chairman of the CNS, stated that the bombs were likely to be caused by “those who have lost political power,” a clear reference to the government led by Thaksin. In June 2007, the police filed corruption charges against Thaksin and his wife Khunying Potjaman.

In January 2008, the newly elected House of Representatives (the lower house of the bicameral legislature) elected Samak, leader of the PPP, as the new prime minister. However, by June, tensions began to emerge within the cabinet, but Samak and seven of his cabinet ministers survived motions of no-confidence.