1924 Palace Law of Succession - Background

Background

The original Palace Law relating to succession since Ayutthaya Kingdom period (1351-1767) did not lay out a clear system for determining a successor upon the death of a king. Rather, it provided a frame of reference from the next king could be chosen. Typically, the new king would be either the late king's son born of a major queen or consort (Thai: หน่อพระพุทธเจ้า; RTGS: nor phra putta chao), or one of his brothers. The Law also provided rules by which someone who was neither a son nor a brother of the deceased king could accede to the throne, should the situation or circumstances require it.

However, the Palace Law was not always followed and did not ensure smooth successions. At least one third of Ayutthaya's royal successions involved bloodshed. Indeed, the history of the kingdom at that time is a chronicle of frequent usurpations and of ambitious men thwarting the final wishes of recently departed kings. Historian David Wyatt observed that "virtually all successions to the throne of Ayutthaya in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were, at the least, irregular, and in many cases either disguised or real usurpations."

After the overthrow of King Taksin (reigned 1767-1782), the founder of the current Royal House of Chakri, King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke or Rama I (reigned 1782-1809), established a more effective system for royal succession. He commissioned scholars to collect and revise laws from the Ayutthaya era. The Palace Law was a constituent part of this new legal compendium called The Three Seals Code, which was indeed, Rama I said, because old laws were often misinterpreted and this led to injustice. Succession under the Three Seals Code took into account the potential of the next king to be, as prescribed by ancient Buddhist's texts, a dhammaraja (righteous king). This was manifested in his upholding of the Ten Virtues of Kingship. Linage, however, still played a very important role.

All of the transfers of power in the Royal House of Chakri that followed the introduction of the Three Seals Code were accomplished with almost no bloodshed - although they were not without some complications. In part, greater adherence to the idea that the wisest and most capable possible successor should be chosen has tempered the eight successions of the Royal House of Chakri during the Rattanakosin (Bangkok) era. At a special council of senior members of royalty and officials, it was agreed that King Buddha Loetla Nabhalai or Rama II (reigned 1809-1824) should succeed his father. After the death of Rama II in 1824, a grand assembly of the royal family, high officers of state and members of the Buddhist monkhood led by the supreme patriarch was convened. The assembly chose a son born of Rama II and a royal consort, a prince who had a proven record, over the king's much younger and less experienced half-brother, Prince Mongkut, who had recently been ordained as a monk. Although as the son of a full queen, Prince Mongkut might have had a superior claim to the throne in terms of lineage, he remained in the temple. This averted a potential succession crisis and any conflict with King Jessadabodindra or Rama III (reigned 1824-1851).

The nuances of all this were beyond the understanding of many European observers raised in the less complicated tradition of primogeniture in which the oldest male heir always succeeds by right of lineage. In the eyes of some Westerners, it appeared that new king had usurped the throne. Later, Rama III's own succession nearly became a crisis. As his health continued to deteriorate in 1851 following months of fruitless discussions about possible successors, the heir to the throne remained unnamed. A foreign observer of the time recounted that: "All parties concerning the question of the succession were preparing themselves with arms and troops for self-defence and resistance." Before they could come to blows, "there was convened at the king's palace ... a meeting of all the princes, nobles, and chief rulers of the land to confer on the all engrossing question of who shall become the successor to the present king."

One of the possible successors to the throne was Prince Mongkut again. Over the 27 years of Rama III's reign, the royal monk had become the leader of a Buddhist reform order. When considering his heir, Rama III had reportedly expressed reservations about the princes who might succeed him. If Prince Mongkut became king, Rama III feared he might order the Sangha (monks) to dress in the style of the Mons. To assuage such doubts, Prince Mongkut wrote a letter to the assembly to make his own case for succeeding to the throne. He also ordered monks in his order to discontinue any practices considered unorthodox or foreign.

According to historian David Wyatt, who cites an account given by Prince Mongkut to American missionary Dan Beach Bradley, about two weeks Rama III died the assembly resolved to protect the claims to the throne of Prince Mongkut and his talented younger brother, Prince Chudamani . As it came to pass, when Rama III passes away, Prince Mongkut became king (Rama IV, reigned 1851-1868) and Prince Chudamani became "second king" (or Phra Pinklao). King Pinklao lived in the Front Palace. He was the only second king in the history of the Royal House of Chakri.

King Mongkut left the position of second king open after Phra Pinklao died in 1865. If King Mongkut had named a replacement second king, the throne could have passed to that person rather than one of his sons. When King Mongkut died in 1868, the Great Council was assembled again. It selected 15-year-old Prince Chulalongkorn, the oldest son of King Mongkut, and Chao Phraya Sri Suriyawongse, a leading member of the powerful Bunnag family, was appointed regent. The council also named the son of the former second king, Prince Yodyingyot (1838-1885, later known as Prince Bovorn Vichaichan), as the uparat (vice king).

As uparat, Prince Yodyingyot, who resided in the Front Palace previously occupied by his father, Phra Pinklao, had 2,000 of his own troops and modern military equipment, In the Front Palace crisis of 1875, the troops of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V, reigned 1868-1910) and Prince Yodyingyot nearly clashed when it appeared that the latter was challenging the throne. Prince Yodyingyot sought refuge in the British consulatem and after lengthy negotiations, his troops were disarmed and the prince was allowed to return to the Front Palace. When Prince Yodyingyout died in 1885, King Chulalongkorn discontinued the Front Palace and uparat system entirely. A year later, King Chulalongkorn elevated the oldest, full-blooded prince among his sons, Prince Vajirunhis (1878-1895) to the position of Crown Prince (Thai: สมเด็จพระบรมโอรสาธิราช สยามมกุฎราชกุมาร; RTGS: Somdet Phra Boromma-orasathirat Sayam Makutrajakumarn). The investiture came well ahead of any expected succession. It was not surprising that the king at this time should choose a modified system of primogeniture to designate his heir apparent. A succession crisis might have left Siam vulnerable to interference from predatory, encroaching Western colonial powers. As Wyatt noted: "By 1910 the Siamese had abandoned the old rules of succession to the throne and had adopted the Western pattern of designating the heir to the throne long in advance."

The accession of King Vajiravudh (Rama VI, reigned 1910-1925) was the least problematic succession in the history of the Royal House of Chakri up to that point. After the premature death of Crown Prince Maha Vajirunhis, his younger half brother, Prince Vajiravudh was invested as crown prince in 1895 and, upon the death of his father King Chulalongkorn, acceded to the throne. Based on his own experience as heir, King Vajiravudh knew that his father had wanted to institute a more ordered system of succession on the basis of primogeniture which unequivocally designated a crown prince. During his reign, however, the King was unable to produce a male heir and, as a result, succession became an issue again.

Of the 77 children fathered by King Chulalongkorn, only seven sons born of queens survived beyond 1910, In the early 1920s, two of King Vajiravudh's three full brothers died. By the end of 1925, only the youngest brother, Prince Prajadhipok, was still alive. As a result, Wyatt writes that, "the problem of succession to the throne came to prominence rather suddenly in the last few years of the reign". This situation provided important impetus for drafting the Palace Law of Succession or kot monthienban wa duai kansubsantatiwong in 1924. This law which continues to provide the framework for succession today, confirmed the primacy of the lineage of King Chulalongkorn and Queen Saovabha, the king's sole and authentic right to choose his successor. It also made the determination of succession as legally precise and binding as possible.