BANGKOK -- The elaborate rites at Thailand's crowning and enthronement ceremony in Bangkok on Saturday continued to serve the mystique of a dynasty more than two centuries old, even as the country evolves.
Few Thais are old enough to recall the last coronation of a monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, almost 69 years ago to the day -- on May 5, 1950. The ceremony for his son and successor, the 66-year-old King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, is only the third in well over a century.
