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    Meeting with
    His Majesty King Bhumibol, Rama IX
    The King of Thailand

Private Meeting with the King of Thailand

It was a rare honor for me and my family (My better half, Nui, and our daughter, Jane) to receive an invitation to a private meeting with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, the reigning monarch of Thailand, particularly in light of the fact that 2006 marked His Majesty's "Diamond Jubilee" after 60 years on the throne. Monarchs and representatives from 25 countries came to Thailand to celebrate the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol's coronation, making him the longest serving monarch in the world today. So what does this have to do with astronomy? About two years ago I met Khun Kraiseeh Petchpornprapas, the coordinator of a project to build several robotic telescopes with remote imaging capability for His Majesty. Over time, we became friends and in 2005 we were fortunate enough to be invited to attend a private meeting with His Majesty King Bhumibol to personally deliver one of our latest model STL-11000M cameras. We are very thankful for this special opportunity made possible through Khun Kraiseeh's efforts, and we deeply appreciate the warm welcome and hospitality we received by His Majesty and his staff at Klaikangwon Palace during our visit.

Here's some interesting background and the story:

The Chakri Dynasty

The present King of Thailand is the ninth monarch of the Chakri dynasty that began about the same time that the United States was born. A short history is of some interest and helps to understand the mind-set of today's monarch as well as the Thai people.

King Buddhayodfa The Great - Rama I, 1782 - 1809

The Chakri dynasty was founded in 1782 when General Chakri ascended to the throne after leading the Thai armies to victory after 15 years of war that ultimately freed Thailand from control of invading Burmese. He was known thereafter as Rama I and and all of his successors are known, in addition to their personal names, Rama II, Rama III, etc. After moving the capital to Bangkok, Rama I built the Grand Palace that houses the Emerald Buddha, the most revered Buddha statue in Thailand. The Grand Palace stands today as one of the many wonders of the country.

King Mongkut - Rama IV. 1851 - 1868

The fourth monarch of the Chakri dynasty was King Mongkut - Rama IV. Unfortunately, this King is best known in the West as the main character in the book. "Anna and the King of Siam," upon which the characters in the movie, "The King and I" are based. I say unfortunately because these works are far more fiction than fact, and artificially raise the author's importance while lowering the real King's sophistication and abilities in order to make good print and cute characters. It is not surprising though given the prevailing attitude of Europeans toward most of Asia during Victorian times. In fact, King Mongkut was highly educated, even by western standards of the time. He was a Buddhist monk for 27 years before ascending to the throne in his late 50's. In addition to his native language, he was fluent in Latin, English, Sanskrit, and Pali (all prior to Anna's arrival in Siam). He regularly corresponded with Western leaders, and sent letters of friendship to Queen Victoria and Abraham Lincoln. He was keenly interested in science, particularly astronomy. His love of astronomy ultimately would even lead to his own death. He calculated that there would be a solar eclipse visible in a remote province and arranged an expedition to view it, inviting a number of westerners to join him. His calculations were correct and the eclipse was visible at the time and place he predicted. However, the King contracted malaria in the low lying region of the viewing site and never recovered from the disease. He died not long after returning to Bangkok from the expedition. But his life and his enthusiasm for learning science paved the way for the modernization of science education in Thailand and his example has been followed by virtually every King since that time. Rama IV is consider to be the Father of Modern Science and Education in Thailand. He is also the great-grandfather of the present King.

King Chulalongkorn the Great - Rama V. 1868 - 1910.

Son of Rama IV, and successor, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) continued in his father's footsteps. He is revered by modern Thais in much the same way that Americans revere Abraham Lincoln. King Chulalongkorn abolished slavery (without a civil war), made extensive contacts in the Western world, modernized government education, transportation, and communication. It is to the credit of the diplomatic skills of both King Mongkut and his son that Thailand was never colonized during the same period that saw most of the rest of Asia being overrun by European colonial powers. In fact, the word "Thai" means free, and therefore Thailand is "Land of the Free."

King Rama IX. 1946 - Present

The present King of Thailand, His Majesty King Bhumibol, is Rama IX. Prince Bhumibol was actually born December 5, 1927, at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge Massachusetts because his parents, Prince and Princess Mahidol were students here at the time. Prince Mahidol was the son the late King Chulalongkorn Rama V mentioned above, making Prince Bhumibol the direct grandson of Rama V and great-grandson of Rama IV. Prince Mahidol was studying medicine at Harvard University and Princess Mahidol was a nurse who had trained at the Simmons College in Boston. Prince Bhumibol was the younger of two brothers and so was not expected to ascend to the throne. His elder brother became King Rama VIII. As a young boy, Prince Bhumibol was brought up in as near a normal atmosphere as possible by his mother at their home in Switzerland as his father died when he was quite young. For instance, he had to earn his pocket money by doing small jobs around their residence, picking fruit at a neighbors orchard, and other routine chores. He enjoyed typical hobbies of young boys, making model trains and trying his hand at photography (His first camera was an old box camera that cost Swiss Fr. 2.5, about 50 cents). Photography remains one of King Bhumibol's favorite hobbies to this day (He told me that his camera of choice is now Canon). In his teens, Prince Bhumibol enrolled at Lausanne University in Switzerland where he studied science, including astronomy. In the middle of his studies however his brother was killed and the duties of the throne were therefore to fall upon him. It was decided that Prince Bhumibol would complete his University studies but in light of the circumstances he changed his focus from science and astronomy to law and political science. His mother, Princess Mahidol, continued her pursuit and love of astronomy and even had a model of the solar system designed by the Astronomical Association of Thailand built into the ceiling of the Reception Hall of her northern palace near Chang Mai. It is said that she often hosted "star parties" where guests would come to observe the stars from her dark skies far from the city lights of Bangkok. This love of the universe must have had an impact on her son.

Prior to the birth of Prince Bhumibol, the monarchy of Thailand was transformed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy similar to that of Great Britain with a parliament as the main governmental body. Nevertheless, the King today enjoys enormous respect and support of the people in a manner and to a degree that is unfamiliar in most Western cultures.

Meeting with His Majesty King Bhumibol, Rama IX

Our meeting was arranged in advance of our summer trip to Thailand. I only half believed that the meeting would actually take place, but it was such a rare opportunity that we were willing to try in any event to see it through. When we were driving through the Palace gates at Klaikangwon it finally hit me that it was real. There are several palaces used by the Royal Family in Thailand. The most famous is of course the Grand Palace in Bangkok that was built by Rama I. Klaikangwon Palace at Hua Hin is built on the Eastern Sea Coast facing the Gulf of Thailand and is more modest than the formal palace in Bangkok. It has traditionally been used by The King and Queen for vacations but the King likes it there so much that lately he tends to use it as his official residence. Klaikangwon means "Far From Worries." Because of its status as His Majesty's residence, there are a number of accommodations surrounding it that are quite comfortable. Our villa was only a few minutes away from Klaikangwon along the same beach front.

On the appointed day we were greeted at the main reception hall of Klaikangwon by a host of staff while we waited for the meeting to start. High Tea was served and we were given some basic instructions on the etiquette to be followed during the meeting. To this day whenever we talk about our experience we remember how warm and friendly the staff members were towards us. Prior to the meeting we set up my laptop to show some astro-images and demonstrate the STL-11000 camera's operations. Once we were all set, His Majesty arrived and Nui, Jane and I were introduced by our host, Khun Kraiseeh Petchpornprapas. I presented to His Majesty the STL-11000M camera that will be used in the Klaikangwon School Observatory located next to the Royal Palace. After the brief presentation, we sat for some informal discussions. During the meeting His Majesty was very open with us, discussing his plans for assembling a network of robotic telescopes around Thailand that would all be accessible by Thai students studying astronomy. The conversation would be familiar sounding to amateur astronomers of any level, anywhere in the world: seeing conditions, accessibility, remote control, type of imaging, etc.

The King's enthusiasm for astronomy was very evident in two ways during our meeting. First, our meeting was much longer than we were led to expect, and second, the King was smiling quite often during the meeting as he talked about astronomy. The King told me of his early astrophotos of the Jovian system "taken with film." An interesting way of characterizing them, I thought. The implication being that that this was a more difficult and challenging method of imaging than with CCDs. How true, I thought, but that's why I was there! When we discussed His Majesty's long time interest in astronomy and he jokingly said that he really wanted to be an astronomer but had to give up the idea because of his "other job." Sound familiar? I felt a genuine kinship with this amateur astronomer who happened to also be the longest ruling monarch in the world. In our briefing before the meeting by His Majesty's staff, we were told not to expect the meeting to last more than about 10 to 15 minutes, maybe 20 minutes tops if he liked the discussions. In fact the total time he spent with us was nearly 1.5 hours, including the time he returned to us after the "official" meeting to show us his beloved pet, Tong Daeng ("Copper") a Thai dog of which the King is very fond. Moreover, even though the King has much more serious matters on his mind, including his own health, and the political health of his country, he was quite relaxed and friendly with us, smiling and joking. According to his staff, with all of the more pressing matters on his mind lately, this was an unusual and welcome demeanor to witness.

When we returned to Bangkok the next day, we received a nice package at our hotel from the Royal Palace with a letter and a copy of a book written by the King and another written by his daughter, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. A simple gift, but above and beyond, I thought for someone with so many more weighty issues to handle.

Acknowledgements

All in all, we were treated extremely well, and warmly, by everyone at the Palace, not to mention His Majesty King Bhumibol, for whom we will always hold a warm feeling in our hearts. In particular, we want to thank Khun Supachai Bhandhukanonda, Director of Royal Household Affairs, for his kind help in preparing for the meeting, and for his thoughtfulness after the event in arranging the delivery of His Majesty's book to our hotel. Of course, our visit would not have been possible if not for the kind invitation received through Khun Kraiseeh Petchpornprapas who, in the mean time, has also been of great help and support in the management of a medical emergency with a close member of our family in Thailand. We are very thankful for his help and friendship.

Although we may make little difference in the scheme of things, we nevertheless wish to express our support for His Majesty's efforts to continue to improve the education, and lives, of all Thais. If there is anything that we can do to assist or support His Majesty in any way, we are at his disposal.

Long Live The King!

Royal Visit Photos