The man who became the world’s longest-ruling living king was revered by many Thais as a semi-divine unifier of the nation, but questions grew in his later years about the monarchy’s involvement in politics — a role always officially denied. 

King Bhumibol’s life ended with the country again under the control of the generals who have ruled Thailand for a good part of its modern history. This time, they are trying to sustain an old establishment centred on the nobility, the military and the bureaucracy against emerging forces of new money, class consciousness and political reform.

By the end, the young saxophone-playing king who once jammed with Benny Goodman on a triumphant trip to the US had become a remote figure, his enduring conservatism evident in the revival of practices such as the prostration abandoned by a 19th-century predecessor. As King Bhumibol’s health deteriorated, authorities jailed a number of people in his name under draconian lese majesty laws. Those punishments and wider social taboos mean no meaningful debate is possible in Thailand about the king’s stewardship or the monarchy’s role in society. Reporting on the royal family is tightly restricted.