The king who smiled on Thailand
The longest reigning monarch in the world is King Bhumibol Adulyadej Rama IX of Thailand.
He is also the world's longest ruling head of State.
The 78-year-old king will have ruled Thailand for 60 years on June 9, 2006.
An accident of fate gave him the throne at the age of 19. When his brother, the 20-year-old Ananda Mahidol Rama VIII, then the king of Thailand, was discovered dead with a bullet through his head in his bedroom at the palace in Bangkok, Bhumibol ascended the throne.
Fate had already participated earlier in his future: his father, the Prince of Songkhla, never ruled Thailand. And because his wife, Bhumibol and Rama VIII's mother, was a commoner the two brothers were designated as Thailand's most junior or lesser princes, with little chance of inheriting the crown. But when their uncle abdicated, without naming an heir, Bhumibol's brother was made king.
Above: King Bhumibol (right), Queen Sirikit and Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn return after reviewing the honor guard as a part of the celebrations for the king's 78th birthday in Bangkok
Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images
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