Thais mourn their beloved king
Monarch reigned for 70 years, world’s longest-serving ruler
BANGKOK — Thais wept across the nation Thursday after the palace announced the death of their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the politically fractious country’s unifying figure and the world’s longest-reigning monarch. He was 88.
Hundreds of people had gathered since Wednesday at Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital, where Bhumibol had been treated for various ailments for much of the past decade.
Many sobbed loudly, clutching each other in anguish and shouting “Long live the king.”
“There is no word to explain my feeling right now,” Gaewkarn Fuangtong, a humanitarian worker, said in Bangkok’s financial district.
“I lost one of the most important people in my life. I feel like I haven’t done enough for him. I should have done more. I will do good, do better for his sake.”
The government announced a 100-day mourning period and a 30-day moratorium on state events. But businesses, tourist attractions and public transport were to remain open Friday because of the government’s desire not to hurt the sputtering economy.
“The stock market, investments, other businesses should not stop. Do not try to let the country lose its credibility, especially in the case of impact on the stock exchange,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a televised address to the nation.
He said Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn will succeed the king under the constitution, but had asked for more time to mourn with the nation before ascending the throne. No date has been set for his coronation.
Most Thais have seen no other king in their lifetime and thought of Bhumibol, who reigned for 70 years, as their father and the embodiment of goodness and godliness.
Although a constitutional monarch, he wielded enormous political power and served as a unifying figure during Thailand’s numerous political crises. But in recent years, he suffered from a variety of illnesses that affected his kidneys, brain, lungs, heart and blood.