Thais came to see the king as a father figure wholly dedicated to their welfare, and as the embodiment of stability in a country where political leadership rose and fell through decades of military coups. Bangkok: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, has died after a long illness, plunging his south-east Asian country of 64 million people into a period of intense mourning and uncertainty. The king had been in hospital since October 3, the Royal Palace said, adding that a team of royal physicians had tried their best and provided the closest care, but that his health continued to decline gradually. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha addressed the nation shortly after the announcement of the king's death to say an heir to the throne had been designated since 1972 and that the government would inform parliament of the choice.Prayuth did not identify the heir but King Bhumibol designated Prince Vajiralongkorn, 64, the heir apparent when he invested him as the crown prince in 1972. He said the government will notify the National Legislative Assembly, or parliament, of the king's successor, and it will act accordingly with the laws of succession in the constitution. He has kept a lower profile than King Bhumibol for most of his life but in the past two years he took on more of the public duties the king was no longer able to perform. By virtue of his success, the late monarch has left behind a modern country that now has to come to terms with his passing. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where his father was studying, King Bhumibol, whose name means "Strength of the Land, Incomparable Power", was educated in Switzerland before returning to Thailand to be crowned on May 5, 1950, with a promise to the nation: "We shall reign with righteousness, for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese [Thai] people." Bhumibol ascended to the throne in 1946, when his brother, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol, was found dead of a gunshot wound in the head in a palace bedroom under circumstances that remain mysterious. Bhumibol, left, is pictured in 1935 with his older brother, the former King Ananda Mahidol, in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the boys attended school. "They say that a kingdom is like a pyramid: the king on top and the people below," he once told an Associated Press reporter. The King put the monarchy at the center of Thai society, acting as a force for community and tradition even as the country flipped between political crises and military coups.
The King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej dies at the age of 88. He was the world's longest currently serving monarch.