Princess prepares floral display for late King

Arrangements for royal funeral under way

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will make a floral arrangement to adorn a structure which will be used to contain the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s urn during the royal cremation ceremony, according to an official attached to the Royal Household Bureau.

Boonchai Thongcharoenbuangam, an official of the Royal Household Bureau’s fine arts division, said the princess will take part in the arrangement to decorate the top tier of phra chittakathan or the catafalque, which will house the late King’s sandalwood-made royal urn.

Sitting at the centre of the royal crematorium, the phra chittakathan has a ninetiered roof, standing about 11 metres high, with a base 6.5 metres long and 3.85 metres wide, Mr Boonchai said.

He added that the phra chittakathan has been designed according to royal ancient traditions.

It will be decorated with taeng yuak carved banana stalks, and kruang sod (fresh decorations) such as carved fruits and floral arrangements, he said.

Flowers with yellow and pink colours which symbolise the late King will be used in the flower arrangements, he added.

Meanwhile, representatives of 15 provinces yesterday arrived at the Interior Ministry to hand over dok mai chan or paper flowers or cremation flowers to be used in the royal funeral ceremonies at Sanam Luang.

The royal funeral ceremonies are scheduled to take place on Oct 25-29, with the cremation set for Oct 26.

Previously, the Interior Ministry had told each province that a committee overseeing the arrangement of the royal funeral ceremonies had agreed to allow all 76 provinces to send their representatives to bring one dok mai chan each.

The cremation flowers will be gathered and placed at the royal crematorium on the day of the cremation.

Each province can design and make dok mai chai according to the flowers which are the symbol of each province. So far, a total of 44 provinces have handed over dok mai chan to the ministry.

PM’s Office Minister Ormsin Chivapruck yesterday said the last day the people will be allowed to pay respects to the late king is Sept 30.

After that, renovation and landscape adjustment around Sanam Luang will be needed, including road renovations.

The field of Sanam Luang will be redecorated while all the tents previously used to serve mourners will be removed, he said.

Rehearsal for the procession from the Grand Palace will be held on Oct 7, 15 and 21, he said adding His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun will preside over the ceremony of raising the nine-tiered umbrella.

The PM’s Office minister said replicas of the royal crematorium are being constructed nationwide, including nine replicas in Bangkok. One replica will be at the Royal Plaza.

There are more venues nationwide, including 16 major spots and dozens of smaller ones, where people can place their paper flowers without having to come to the main venue.

People can place the flowers in every province, he said.

The ceremony will be televised live, and the public will be allowed to visit the royal crematorium at Sanam Luang from Nov 1-30.