Page 27 - The Royal Coronation Ceremony

The Royal Coronation Ceremony

The Royal Coronation Ceremony is an ancient traditional practice to complete the procedure of the
enthronement of each King of Thailand, in order to ensure legitimacy and formally complete the accession to the
throne. The archive on the Royal Coronation Ceremony of His Majesty King Vajiravudh (Rama VI), or Chotmaihet
Phra Ratcha Phithi Boromracha Phisek Somdetch Phra Rama Dhibodi Sisindra Maha Vajiravudh Phra Mongkut
Klao Chao Yu Hua, chronicled this subject:
“...according to the traditional customs of this nation of Siam, a practical code was followed
from ancient days in order to complete the kingship. Each king must attend to all procedures of
the Royal Coronation Ceremony. If the Royal Coronation Ceremony had not yet been performed,
although a successor to the throne was designated and moved into the Grand Palace, the palace
would only be designated as an ordinary residence in that situation and his name would remain the
same with only the additional title of a Regent His order was not yet called “The Royal Command.”
Only when he had been purified with sacred water in the Royal Ablution Ceremony, the “Song Phra
Muratha Bhisek,” and when he had received the Golden Plaque inscribed with his official title name
and received the Royal Regalia, these given from the chief Brahmin who conducted the ceremony, only
then would he become the official King. He must pass through the entire process of enthronement
to ascend to the position as the supreme sovereign of the country from then on...”

* In this book, the English spelling of the proper names of the palace and buildings inside the Grand Palace and Wat Phra
Sri Rattana Satsadaram is based on King Rama VI’s Principles for the Romanization of the Thai script.

Mural Painting in the ubosot of Wat Amphawan
Chetiyaram, Samut Songkhram Province.
The Royal Coronation Ceremony of His Majesty
King Buddha Lert La Nabhalai (Rama II)

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The Royal Coronation Ceremony