The Siamese monarchy is not hereditary—that is, not in the sense that that term is understood in Europe. There is what is called the Senabodee, or royal counselors, consisting of the chief ministers of state, who during the life of the king are merely silent counselors, but upon his death their power becomes manifest, and upon them devolves the responsibility of selecting a successor and governing the kingdom until such successor is chosen. The successor must be a prince of the realm, but not necessarily the eldest son of the late king; indeed, not necessarily a son of his at all.
The death of the late king occurred about nine o’clock P. M. The prime minister was immediately summoned to the palace, and convened the Senabodee, and before midnight the succession was determined and everything going on smoothly. They chose in this instance the eldest son of the late king, Somdetch Chowfa Chulalangkorn, a boy about sixteen years old.
His coronation took place on Wednesday, November 11, 1868, being the day decided upon by the Brahman astrologers as the one most propitious. At this coronation there was a slight innovation upon the usual Siamese custom. No European had ever before witnessed the coronation ceremonies of any king of Siam. The late king, after his coronation, wrote a private note to some of his European friends stating that he would have been glad to have had them present, but “state reasons forbade the presence of foreigners.”
SOMDETCH CHOWFA CHULALANGKORN.
The number of Europeans present at the coronation proper of the present king were few, consisting of the consuls of the different treaty powers with their suites, the officers of H. B. M.’s gunboat Avon and a few others. The writer held at the time the seals of the United States consulate, and was the only representative of our government in the kingdom, and consequently received an invitation, which might not have been accorded to him as a mere missionary. The company of Siamese present was equally small, consisting only of the chief princes and nobles of the kingdom. The hour named was six A. M., but owing to some delay it was nearly eight when we passed into a small triangular court facing one of the doors of the inner audience-hall. In front of the door of the hall stood an elevated platform richly gilded, and upon that platform was placed a very large golden basin. Within that basin was a golden tripod or three-legged stool. Over the platform was a quadrangular canopy, and over the canopy was the nine-storied umbrella, tapering in the form of a pagoda. Over the centre of the canopy was a vessel containing consecrated water, said to have been prayed over nine times and poured through nine different circular vessels before reaching the top of the canopy. This water is collected from the chief rivers of Siam and at a point above tidal influence, and is constantly kept on hand in reservoirs near the temples in the capital. In the vessel was placed a tube or siphon, representing the pericarp of the lotus-flower after the petals have fallen off.
HALL OF AUDIENCE, PALACE OF BANGKOK.