Word: bhumibol
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...crowned King. His reign lasted just six months. Early one morning he was found dead with a bullet in his forehead. The gun was his own, but whether he or someone else pulled the trigger has never been known to the public. At the age of 18, Bhumibol, the most fun-loving of the royal family, suddenly found himself King of Thailand...
...first saw his beautiful second cousin Sirikit when she was only 14, at a reception in Paris, where her father was the Thai ambassador. When he returned to Europe as King, he pursued her in earnest. The wedding took place in April 1950, one month be fore Bhumibol's formal coronation...
...Blue Night, made the Broad way scene in Mike Todd's 1950 production Peep Show. The royal couple had four children, three girls and a boy, Prince Vajiralongkorn, who is now studying in England, prepping for Rug by school and kingship as Rama X. And like his ancestors, Bhumibol in the tenth year of his reign shaved his head, retired briefly to a monastery, and went out at dawn's light to beg for his food...
...Bhumibol's first big test came in 1957, when he tacitly supported Army Chief Sarit Thanarat's takeover as Premier. Partly in gratitude, partly to rally public support for his own rule, Sarit consciously set out to build up the image of the tall, spare King and his comely Queen. He soon found the maturing King to be far more than a complaisant figurehead. When the World Court awarded a frontier temple to Thailand's traditional enemy, Cambodia, Sarit was ready to refuse to hand it over. Bhumibol said the court's order would be obeyed...
Packing a Lunch. Under Sarit's successor, Premier Thanom Kittikachorn, Bhumibol is more than ever the throne behind the power. He and Sirikit, working as a ceremonial team with all the pageantry that Thais love, take every opportunity to identify themselves with Thailand and its progress. Whether it be the dedication of a new dam or highway, the ancient ceremony of the first spring plowing, or the certification of a newly found royal white elephant (an auspicious omen in Thai mythology), Bhumibol uses each event to emphasize the rich heritage and unity of his nation. (One discontinued tradition: feeding...