Royalty Afloat

By Guy D. Garcia

Reviving a tippy tradition

Long before Anna ever met the King of Siam, the monarchs of Thailand traveled their kingdom in resplendent style. As early as the 17th century, European voyagers recorded that a Thai royal tour through the waters of the old imperial capital, Ayutthaya, involved as many as 450 sumptuous teak barges, elaborately carved and gilded, with prows in the shapes of ornate serpents, birds and deities. Wrote one French envoy who witnessed the spectacle: "The splendor of the decorations, the variety of costume, the crowds of richly dressed spectators, the noise of the oars, and the shouts of the rowers, added to the music of innumerable instruments, produce a whole which would be difficult to parallel elsewhere." But rising maintenance costs gradually forced the royal barges off Thailand's waterways. Fifteen years ago, the royal procession disappeared altogether, a victim of jet-age austerity.

Last week the glittering ceremony was revived to celebrate the bicentennial of the founding of Thailand's ruling Chakri dynasty. No fewer than 51 of the mammoth regal barges were restored, at a cost of $3.5 million, to transport King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 54, ninth of his line, and his entourage along the Chao Phraya River. For months, 2,180 cadets and officers of the Thai navy had worked strenuously to perfect their oarsmanship. Their main worry: the barges are notoriously unstable, and the slightest mistake could have resulted in a regal dunking.

There were no such mishaps. Flanked by royal guards dressed in scarlet, black and turquoise uniforms with plumed helmets, King Bhumibol stepped out of his pale yellow Rolls-Royce and boarded the Suphannahongse (Golden Swan), a 15-ton, 148-ft. vessel with a fierce, swanlike prow. Propelled by 54 crimson-clad rowers, the barge glided down the river like a giant mythological bird. As gold-encrusted conch shells and silver trumpets heralded the royal procession, several hundred thousand Thais gathered along the riverbank to catch a glimpse of their King.

For all its historical accuracy, the event was not re-enacted in every detail. In earlier days a prohibition that prevented a commoner from touching a king--even during an emergency--meant that the barges had to carry strings of buoyant coconuts to be used as life preservers in case of an accident. Though no Thai would touch him in normal circumstances today, it is unlikely the King would be allowed to drown, and, after several practice drills down the river, the navy decided that the coconuts would not be needed.

--By Guy D. Garcia.

-- Reported by Victoria Butler/Bangkok

With reporting by Victoria Butler

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