Thailand's King Bhumibol dead aged 88
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Jennifer Newton Jennifer Newton for MailOnline www.facebook.com
The Thai government say Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has sought a delay by the country's Prime Minister in naming him king just hours after the death of his father King Bhumibol.
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Mail Online
Heartbroken Thais are mourning the death of their beloved king today as his playboy son provoked mystery by requesting his succession to the throne be delayed.

King Bhumibol, who was the world's longest reigning monarch, died this morning in hospital in Bangkok at the age of 88.

He served for 70 years and commanded great respect from his people, who wept openly on the streets after learning of his passing away.

But as attention now turns to Bhumibol's successor, the Thai government say Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has sought a delay by the country's Prime Minister in naming him king.

It came after the news filtered in of his father's death prompting crowds of Thais packed into a courtyard beneath the monarch's hospital window to chant 'Long live the king!'.

One of those leading the chants, Sukit Tanaboonsombat, 46, said: 'I want the king to hear us in case he will come back to life.

'I'm waiting for a miracle to bring the king back to life because he said he wanted to live until 120 years old.'

Across the board, Thai television turned its programming over to glorifying the revered king, broadcasting images of him at his 1946 coronation, patrolling in military fatigues, and overseeing programmes aiding the poor.

Government officials also added there will be a one-year mourning period, with all entertainment functions being 'toned down' for 30 days.

Thai leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha told reporters at Government House: 'I had a royal audience with the Crown Prince (Maha Vajiralongkorn) and he asked for time to prepare before being proclaimed as the new king.

'He said at present, he is the heir apparent. But he would like to take some time to mourn, together with the people of Thailand.'

The delay comes as he has constantly been dogged by a reputation that some fear could weaken respect for the Thai monarchy.

The 64-year-old has had three stormy marriages that have all ended in divorce and there have long been rumours about his finances and hot temper.

His last marriage to Srirasmi Koet-amphaeng, with whom he had a son, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, ended in 2014 when she had her royal title stripped.

It came just months after a video emerged during the Thai military coup in 2014 of the pair throwing a party in honour of their pet dog Foo Foo in the royal palace in Bangkok.

Srirasmi could be seen cavorting in just a tiny G-string as she fed the dog cake before they later sang happy birthday to the animal.

The video came after a former US ambassador in Bangkok told how Princess Srirasmi confided in him during a state dinner that Foo Foo 'holds the rank of Air Chief Marshal'.

Given the controversy, there had been talk that his older sister might ascend to the Thai throne but today the government all but confirmed Vajiralongkorn as the successor.

He was born in July 1952 and the prince was accorded the kind of attention one would expect from growing up in a palace.

In later life he told an interviewer that even at the age of 12 he was unable to tie his own shoes because courtiers had always done it for him.

Efforts to prepare the prince for the throne began in earnest in his early teens. He was commissioned as an officer in the three branches of Thailand's armed forces and by age 14 was sent to boarding school in England.

He continued his studies at a school in Sydney in preparation for Australia's Royal Military College at Duntroon, which he entered in 1972 and graduated from in 1975, shortly after Thailand's neighbours Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam fell to communist forces.

The prince took part in some military action against Thailand's homegrown communist insurgency, but began facing greater challenges on the personal front.

In 1977, reportedly bowing to his mother's wishes, he married a maternal first cousin, Soamsawali Kitiyakara. Their daughter, Princess Bajrakitiyabha, was born in 1978, even as the marriage was falling apart.

Just nine months later, the prince had a son by Yuvadhida Polpraserth, a commoner who was to become his second wife.

This prompted his own mother to note his reputation with women, telling reporters when she travelled to the United States in 1982: 'My son the crown prince is a little bit of a Don Juan. He is a good student, a good boy, but women find him interesting and he finds women even more interesting.'

Palace elders tried to encourage Vajiralongkorn's enthusiasm for military duties with training stints abroad.

A 1980 course of advanced military training in the United States whetted his appetite for flying, a passion carried on to this day, sometimes in the wide-bodied jets of national carrier Thai Airways.

Critics noted his pastime was expensive, citing for example, a $20 million F-16 jet fighter the military presented to him in 1992 for his personal use.

In 1992, he said his reputation was 'upsetting' to him, especially because he felt unable to defend himself because of his royal position.

Speaking to reporters specially invited to his residence, he denied some long-standing rumors: that he owned nightclubs that were profiting by flouting legal closing hours because of links to him, that he was a godfather of various financial scam and that he rigged the national lottery.

Speaking at the time he said: 'The money I spend is acquired honestly. I don't want to touch money earned illegally and through the suffering of others.'

But the rumour mill has continued to feed on his personal life. All five of the children with the woman who became his second wife were born years before he was divorced from his first spouse.

After winning grudging acceptance from the palace to treat his second wife as a royal, they had a spectacular bust-up in 1996 which saw her flee to England with their four sons and one daughter. The prince then flew there to grab his daughter back.

In 2001, he married another commoner, Srirasmi and then had the royal status of his sons by his second wife withdrawn.

However, Srirasmi also fell out of favour as some of her close relatives were arrested in November 2014 on charges of abusing the crown prince's name in collusion with corrupt police to run a massive extortion scheme.

She was stripped of her royal title and the couple are now divorced.

Earlier this year, he also saw himself at the centre of another controversy when police raided the Bangkok home of a British journalist's wife and questioned her for several hours in connection with his social media posts containing photographs supposedly of Vajiralongkorn.

The pictures showed him wearing low slung jeans and crop top with a huge tattoo on his back. However, Thai police insisted that the images were doctored.

Also widely discussed, albeit privately, in Thailand is Vajiralongkorn's relationship with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed by a military coup in 2006 after being accused of corruption and disrespect for the king.

Thaksin, a billionaire, was believed to have sought the prince's favor with lavish gifts of cash and property.

However last year, Vajiralongkorn made two high-profile public appearances in Thailand, leading thousands of people in mass bicycling events to mark the birthdays of his mother and his father.

Many saw the events as an attempt to raise his profile in preparation for his eventual installation as king.

Some analysts have likened Vajiralongkorn's situation to that of Britain's Prince Charles, forced to tread water while Queen Elizabeth II reigns for a seventh decade.

A crucial difference is that while Charles and his family can be held to public account, particularly by the press, Thailand's royal family is protected by an Asian tradition of reverence as well as harsh laws that mandate a prison term of three to 15 years for anyone found guilty of the loosely defined crime of insulting the monarchy.

However, during his father's reign that spanned 70 years, the US-born king became much more than Thailand's constitutional monarch.

He was the nation's one constant as myriad governments rose and fell and regarded as a gentle leader who used the influence of the throne to unify the nation.

In his heyday, the frail-looking, soft-spoken man in spectacles wielded so much power and respect, he was able to squelch coups and rebellions with a gesture or a few well-chosen words.

Bhumibol was viewed by many in the majority Buddhist nation as a bodhisattva, or holy being who delays entering nirvana to aid the human race.

But while junta leaders, prime ministers and courtiers approached him only on their knees, Bhumibol was remarkably down-to-earth.

He rolled up his sleeves and hiked into impoverished villages and remote rice paddies to assess the state of his country and help resolve everything from water and food shortages to family squabbles.

He played half a dozen musical instruments and jammed with American jazz greats including Benny Goodman.

By the twilight of his rule, Bhumibol had become the world's richest monarch and one of the planet's wealthiest people.

Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at more than $30 billion in 2011.

Although not known for having extravagant tastes, he nevertheless lived the elite life of a modern-day king, racing yachts and appearing at official functions clothed in ornate golden robes.

Over the last decade, the once vigorous Bhumibol had withdrawn from public life due to a series of illnesses. His wife, Queen Sirikit, has also long been ailing and has been even more rarely seen.

The king was often ensconced at a Bangkok hospital, emerging from time to time to gaze across the Chao Phraya River from a special pavilion.

He had been notably silent about the political upheaval and protests that have shaken the country in recent years.

During his last days in hospital, Thai people gathered outside bringing flowers and saying prayers.

His death means that Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has now become the world's longest reigning monarch.