Coronation Day

Coronation Day The coranation of the present king took place on 5 May 1950 and His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great is the ninth King of the Chakri Dynasty. On 5 May of every year, all his subjects rejoice in demonstrating once more their affection and loyalty to him by organising a celebration on his coronation day. Prior to the reign of King Rama IV (King Mongkut), there was no coronation ceremony in Thailand, there was only a private ceremony held by high ranking officials to celebrate their Royal Regalia and positions in the 6th lunar month. A coronation, however, took place for the first time when King Rama IV was crowned on 15 May 1851. The king thought that the coronation was an auspicious occasion and, above all, several countries which have a king or queen as the head of state regard this day as an important occasion to organise a ceremony in honour of their monarch. Thus, King Rama IV issued a proclamation to organise a ceremony on the coronation day. However, the king thought that it would be difficult to explain the meaning of the coronation day to his subjects in detail, he thus allowed people to call this day as a “ceremony to commemorate the Royal Regalia”, but was quite similar to that of a coronation. On that day (the 13th of the full moon in the 6th lunar month), Buddhist monks were invited to perform a blessing ceremony and on the following day monks were invited to have meal at the Dusit Maha Prasart Throne Hall in the Grand Palace.

During the reign of the present king, the ceremonies are performed for three days. The first day falls on 3 May in which the following ceremony will be performed; the king performs a merit-making ceremony at the Audience Hall of Amarindra in dedication to the deceased kings while Buddhist monks chant, give a sermon and perform a requiem (a ceremony to meditate and take memorial robe) on the royal ashes of the deceased kings. On 4 May, the Coronation Ceremonies begin with a proclamation of the Coronation Day read by the Chief of Brahmin priests followed by an evening chanting performed by Buddhist monks. Finally, 5 May is the actual date of the ceremony in which food is to be offered to monks and followed by a celebration of the Royal Regalia, At noon the Army and the Navy, each fires a 21-gun salute in honour of the king. On this day, His Majesty the King also presents the royal decorations to the people who have made a valuable contribution to the country.