The King of Thailand in World Focus
The king relaxes with his famous and lucky dog,
Tongdaeng. The adopted dog became even more admired after the king used her
unusual characteristics and loyalty as a vehicle for his own parables about
personal virtue and social
order in a book. (photo: Kraipit Phanvut)
The King of Thailand plays with the King of
Jazz, Benny Goodman
(photo courtesy Royal Palace)
King Bhumibol Adulyadej and President Dwight
Eisenhower discuss the carved teak elephant the king presented to him before
a state dinner at the White House in 1960. The king is wearing the Legion of
Merit awarded to him by the American president earlier on the same visit.
(photo: AP)
The royal couple in Sydney get to meet some pure
Australiana-a koala and a baby kangaroo. The queen is holding a native dog
from New Guinea.
(photo: The Daily Telegraph)
The Royal Family attend a private New Year
ceremony in 1960 (photo: John Dominis-Time Life Pictures/Getty)
“Simplify all things,” the king once told a
foreign reporter. “If one entrusts a project to expert, they write up big
files, which no one understands”.
(photo: John Everingham)
The King engaging in photography, long one of
his favorite hobbies, with his young family in the palace grounds in 1960.
(photo: John Dominis-Time Life Pictures/Getty)
Armed with his trademark maps, King Bhumibol
confers with local officials high in the hills of Chiangmai. His focus is
irrigation, new crops, farming techniques, and the complains of
locals-sometimes against the self-same officials. He terms all this
“preventive medicines.” (photo: John Everingham)
“The King of Thailand in World Focus” (ISBN
978-974-7348-54-5, editions Didier Millet, 2007) encompasses articles and
images from the international press from 1946-2006. 60 years is a lot of
ground to cover, especially on a man who has always been in the eye of the
international media for all that time.
As
we approach the 80th birthday of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the
Great, it is an auspicious time to look at the impact of this man on the
world stage, and what better way than through his media coverage. This has
been done by the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand (FCCT) collating
some of the many articles that have been published about HM the King.
This new book is actually the second edition, the previous one having been
published in 1988 to coincide with HM King Bhumibol’s 60th birthday.
However, much has flown down the Chao Phraya since 1988. 11 of the 22 prime
ministers who have been nominally in charge of the country during his reign,
being just one example.
The contents are arranged to cover his younger years, the coronation,
formative decades, the royals abroad, the turbulent years (which of course
encompasses the deposed Thaksin administration), the working Royals, the
Renaissance Man (showing the multiple talents of HM the King), the various
milestones he has passed (and surpassed), Royal asides and then many
appendices covering the Chakri Dynasty, Royal emblems and a chronology of
his life and times. There is also an index that follows the names of the
journalists who have contributed, including the Pattaya Mail’s
yachting correspondent Peter Cummins, a man who has raced against HM the
King, with his report of HM the King’s and his daughter’s dead heat for the
gold medal at the South East Asia Peninsular Games in 1967.
As well as HM the King, the media coverage includes the Royal family with
his parents and his children being featured, plus the unfortunate drowning
of his grandson in the tsunami. One can very quickly see the respect that
the world’s press has had for his children, with HRH Princess Maha Chakri
Sirindhorn and her devotion to her father and her royal duties strongly
featured. The People’s Daily in 2006 covering her visit to the village of
Zhuang in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, noting that was HRH Princess
Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s 23rd visit to China.
Robert Woodrow, writing for Asiaweek in 1982, showed wonderful perspicacity
when he wrote, “Kingship is fundamental to the Thai perception of themselves
as a proud and free people; without it, they would lose that identity; their
cohesion and self-esteem would be shattered. While the Thais have pride,
their monarchy will endure.”
Underscoring the turbulent years and HM the King’s part in defusing one of
the worst scenarios as regards public peace, Time magazine gave many pages
over to the Thailand situation. That HM the King managed to avert further
bloodshed has been looked upon as almost a modern-day miracle. While others
in power were losing their reason, HM the King did not. This is well
illustrated by the Time article written by Jay Branegan and Peter Jansson.
Every page is illustrated with photographs, many being full color plates and
the paper stock is heavy and high quality. Each item is dated and the
publication named, as well as the writer if there was a by-line originally.
This very large, hardback reference tome is only 1450 Baht and is one of the
finest books on the life of His Beloved Majesty. For that reason alone,
every household should strive to get one of these limited edition books.
With 60 percent of the profits going to HM the King’s charity and the rest
to the FCCT’s educational funds, is just another stimulus, but the book
stands tall on its own. Get one (if you can).
The book is available through all leading bookstores in Thailand including
B2S, Asia Books, Bookazine and Kinokuniya.
