1924 Palace Law of Succession - Details of Succession

Details of Succession

In the first section, King Vajiravudh states that "according to royal tradition, Siamese Kings have the sole power and prerogative to designate any descendant of the royal family as heir to the throne". Explaining why this new law was needed, King Vajiravudh wrote:

"But as it has been in the past, and could be in the future, the king cannot name his own successor ... resulting in troubling events ... When kings have died, the vying for royal power has opened an opportunity for persons ... who have been obstructive to the prosperity of the kingdom. It has also been the opportunity for enermies, both internal and external, to think of doing harm to the royal family and the freedom of Siam. has brought disaster to the Thai nation. The king has thus desired to have a law determining succession in order to reduce the trouble of contending within the royal family."

According to King Vajiravudh, it was his father's intention to bring Thai royal successions into closer line with those of other nations. The important principles established by the law concern the king's right to name or remove an heir apparent, the procedures to be used if the king has not named an heir apparent, and also a description of the suitable characteristics for an heir to the throne.

The reigning king has absolute power to name any royal male as heir apparent, and upon being announced publicly, the "position of such heir is secure and indisputable":

• Section 5 - The king has the sole power and prerogative to designate any descendant of the royal family as heir to the throne, depending on his judgement and trust placed on the ability of the said person to succeed him.

• Section 6 - Once the king has designated the heir to the throne and has had such designation proclaimed to members of the royal family, officials and the public at large, the position of such heir is secure and indisputable. When the necessary time comes, the said heir shall immediately ascend the throne to succeed the late king in accordance with the latter's wish.

The king also has absolute power to remove an heir apparent from the position. If he does so, "his entire lineage is removed from any claim to the throne":

• Section 7 - The king has the sole power and prerogative to remove the heir to the throne from his position. Anyone who has been removed from the position of heir to the throne shall be considered as broken from any claim to succession and his name shall be removed from the line of succession. His sons and his entire lineage of direct descendants shall also be excluded from the line of succession. The king has the sole power and prerogative to exclude any member of the royalty from the line of succession.

• Section 8 and 9 lay out the processes by which a new king is determined when the king dies with no heir apparent designated. In such case, the chief state official is to invite the first in line of succession to be king. Section 9 was set out "to clear any doubt" as to "the order in the line of succession", delineated down to 13 levels. Below are the first six levels:
  • The first-born son of the king and queen;
  • The first-born son of the said prince and his royal consort;
  • Younger sons, in order, of the said prince and his royal consort;
  • The second-born son of the king and queen when the first-born son is deceased and has no male children;
  • The first-born son of the second-born son of the king and queen if the second-born son is deceased;
  • Younger sons, in order, of the second-born son .

While Section 9 ranks those eligible for kingship, the law's next set of clause entitled, "On those who must be excluded from the line of succession", describes what might disqualify a potential heir to the throne.

• Section 10 addresses members of royalty in the line of succession who may be unsuitable to accede. This Section is not really so much a law as a piece of advice. It states:

"Whoever is to ascend to the throne should be one from the masses fully respect and can be contentedly taken as their protector. Therefore any member of the royalty whom the multitude holds as loathsome, such person should foreswear the path to succession in order to remove the worry from the king and the people from the realm."

• Section 11 states: "Descendants of the royal family with any of the following characters shall be excluded from the line of succession:
  • Insanity;
  • Convicted of a serious crime under the law;
  • Unable to serve as Upholder of Buddhism;
  • Married to a foreign consort, i.e. a woman whose nationality is originally not Thai;
  • Being removed from the position of heir to the throne regardless of during which reign such removal took place;
  • Being proclaimed to be excluded from the line of succession.

The last exclusion, Section 13, pertains to accession by a princess:

• Section 13 - As it is deemed to be untimely for a princess to ascend the throne as a sole sovereign of Siam, inclusion of princesses in the line of succession shall be categorically prohibited.

Other points in the law provide guidance for when the new king is a minor under 20 years of age (a member of the royalty is to be named as regent and the two most senior privy councillors are to act as advisers). Procedures were also put in place for future kings to amend the law. They are advised to keep in mind that the law was written to strengthen the dynasty, and that amendments required approval from two-thirds of the Privy Council.

The 1924 Palace Law of Succession was put into effect the following year with the accession of King Prajadhipok (Rama VII, reigned 1925-1935). He had never been groomed for the throne, nor had he ever expected to accede or aspired to doing so. He had spent most of his adult life in military schools (Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in England and L'École Supérieure de Guerre in France) and had only returned to Siam in 1924. When his older brother died late the following year, he was at the top of the succession list and became Siam's last absolute monarch.

Although the Palace Law on Succession worked in 1925, there remained some underlying problems. King Prajadhipok wrote in 1926 that the law still embodied the two distinct and rather contradictory principles that had long characterized succession in Siam: "the principle of election and the principle of hereditary succession". For example, if the king did not designate his own successor, the throne was to go to one of his sons. King Prajadhipok remarked, "This sounded straightforward enough, but a complication arises here owing to the habit of polygamy." The law specified that the next king was to be chosen according to the rank of his mother, the queen. But there were four ranks of queen, and this arrangement was complicated by the fact that the rank of a queen could either be raised or lowered "according to the whims of the king". Thus several people could still make competitive claims to the throne. King Prajadhipok observed: "This, to my mind, creates very great possibilities of complications." In addition, he was not convinced that the flexibility in the law, which allowed for a monarch to choose a successor who would please the people, could be properly applied.