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Agence France-Presse

A year of official mourning for Thailand’s late King Bhumibol Adulyadej drew to an end on Sunday after a lavish five-day funeral embroidered with pageantry and religious ritual.
Bhumibol, a beloved king who died last October aged 88, was cremated on Thursday after a day charged with emotion that brought Thailand to a standstill.

At his death he was the world’s longest serving monarch, striding over seven decades of Thailand’s turbulent modern history, to depart as the kingdom’s chief figure of unity.
But he left behind a kingdom deeply divided along political, economic and social lines, with a junta in charge and democratic government a distant prospect.

As dusk fell on Sunday, his son and heir 65-year-old King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his sister, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, carried a pair of golden urns containing their father’s relics from the Grand Palace to two Bangkok temples where they will be housed in a cream-coloured Rolls-Royce.

A ceremonial cavalry unit with soldiers in full regalia – including blue plumes in their helmets – led the convoy, in a sombre but small procession capping the US$90 million funeral.
Buddhist monks led prayers at the temples while black-clad mourners sitting on pavements outside clasped their hands together in respect.

Bhumibol’s reputation as “father of the nation” was buffed up by a careful palace public relations machine, while criticism of the king and key senior royals is banned by a tough lèse-majesté law.
Thais have dressed in black or subdued tones for much of the last year, with black and white ribbons tied to school gates, temples and government buildings.
The prolonged display of official mourning for the late king lapses at midnight on Sunday.


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Funeral for late Thai King Bhumibol draws to a close

Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun (left) and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn with the royal relics and ashes of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in a car during the procession for the transferring of the relics and ashes to temples on October 29, 2017. Photo: EPA

epa06296631 Thai Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana (C) daughter of King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, rides her horse with the royal guards during the procession for the transferring of the relics and ashes of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, to be enshrined in Wat Rajabopidh Sathitmahasimaram and Wat Bovoranives Vihara temples, as part of the royal cremation ceremony, at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 October 2017. King Bhumibol died at the age of 88 on 13 October 2016 after 70 years on the throne. EPA-EFE/NARONG SANGNAK

epa06296633 The convoy carrying the royal relics and ashes of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej passes the Grand Palace during the procession for the transferring of the relics and ashes of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, to be enshrined in Wat Rajabopidh Sathitmahasimaram and Wat Bovoranives Vihara temples, as part of the royal cremation ceremony, at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 October 2017. King Bhumibol died at the age of 88 on 13 October 2016 after 70 years on the throne. EPA-EFE/NARONG SANGNAK

epa06296588 Thai mourners wait for the procession transferring the relics and ashes of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej outside the Wat Bovoranives Vihara temple, in Bangkok, Thailand, 29 October 2017. The procession transferring the royal relics and ashes to be enshrined to two temples, Wat Rajabopidh Sathitmahasimaram and Wat Bovoranives Vihara, as part the final of the royal cremation ceremony to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej in an elaborate royal funeral ceremony. King Bhumibol died at the age of 88 in Siriraj hospital on 13 October 2016 after 70 years on the throne. EPA-EFE/NARONG SANGNAK

A crowd gathers at a corner to watch a funeral procession of the relics of the late Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej on a TV set in Bangkok as they were being transferred from the Grand Palace to a local temple on October 29, 2017. A year of official mourning for Thailand's late King Bhumibol Adulyadej was to end after a lavish five-day funeral full of pageantry and religious ritual. / AFP PHOTO / Roberto SCHMIDT

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