One could be forgiven for thinking the divine rule of kings was a thing of the past, even if the young Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin ‘off-with-his-head’ Salman and a few other Gulf royals think otherwise. Today most constitutional monarchies hold on through a combination of public relations and celebrity trivia. The Thai monarchy of some 800 years’ vintage is a kind of hybrid between divine right and the toothless trappings of ceremonial heads of state. A military coup in 1932 created a constitutional design which rearranged power between the monarchy and the military. Popular antipathy towards privileged royalty is largely absent in Thailand. Thus patriarchal monarchy, with the king referred to as Pho Khun or a ‘revered’ father, retains a strong grip and supposedly ‘stands above’ partisan politics.
This devotion to all things royal is particularly important to the Thai military given its propensity to overthrow civilian governments – 19 times since the establishment of the country as a ‘constitutional monarchy’. The military currently runs the country, with some 1,800 people facing charges before biased military courts. The king, being non-partisan and above politics, never expresses his view on military takeovers. The continuity and popularity of the monarchy sustains the illusion of hierarchical stability, keeping Thais secure from democratic chaos. The king is still the de jure if not de facto head of the military. The monarchy is highly militarized with every prominent member holding some rank and frequently appearing in public in dress uniform. The military plays a crucial role in keeping the royals secure from any criticism by enforcing a series of draconian lèse-majesté and related laws that criminalize not only criticism of the king, queen, the crown prince or regent but even looking at such criticism online. Violators can be punished by up to 15 years in prison. Publications deemed critical are prohibited – The Economist and the Far Eastern Economic Review have both run afoul of censors.
