Royal Families of South East Asia
The first independent Thai state was the Kingdom of Sukhodaya, which was founded in 1237 when the Thais managed to throw off the yoke of the Khmer Empire.
The present Kingdom of Thailand is considered as the successor state of the Kingdom of Ayudhya, which was founded in 1350 by a Thai prince from Chiang Sen who became King Rama Dhibodi.
Following the fall of Ayudhya to the Burmese on April 17, 1767 a new dynasty was eventually established at Dhonburi, on opposite bank of the Chao Phraya River to what is today Bangkok. Its only King, Taksin, having become insane was deposed and murdered, following which the generals and officers of state offered the crown to Chao Phraya Chakri, who was proclaimed King in Bangkok on April 6,1782.
King Chulalongkorn, the fifth Chakri King, who succeeded to the throne in 1868, made two visits to Europe, in 1896 and 1906, the first Siamese monarch ever to do so. He also traveled widely in South East Asia and visited the Malay States, the Straits Settlements and the Netherlands-Indies.
As a result of his contacts with Europe, King Chulalongkorn found it necessary to formulate a full royal title in English similar concept to those used by the European monarchs, giving his full territorial designation. He was the “King of Siam both Northern and Southern and all its Dependencies, Laos Chiang, Laos Kao, Malays, Koreans ….”
It was during King Chulalongkorn”s long reign of forty two years that the national boundaries became fixed at what they are today. With the growing colonization of the region Siam was obliged to relinquish certain territories to the European powers, thus ensuring her role as a buffer zone between the British and French spheres of influence. The first of these territories to be lost was Cambodia, which had fallen to France in 1863.
It was said at that time of the foundation of the Chakri Dynasty in 1782, that the Chakri Kings would hold the reins of power only one hundred and fifty years. This famous prediction became true in 1932 when, six weeks after the official celebrations to mark the sesquincentenary of the dynasty in April of that year, a coup d’etat brought to an end the absolute monarchy of Siam.
As with the Chakri Kings who ruled before that date, their successors who have ruled since have continued to manifest the same strength of character and be the subject of the same widespread popularity as their predecessors.
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