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Throne or whether it is only the sons of the Principal wife only who could succeed. The case has really occurred which shows that in the late King’s mind ALL the sons could succeed. In my case the son of the Prince of Petchabun was passed over by the expressed wishes of the late King. Now, many people find that the idea that all the sons could succeed was objectionable owing to the fact that some Princes have the most disreputable minor wives who are really not fitted to be the mothers of Kings. They also say that the Siamese follows the India custom and wants their Kings to be born of a Princess of the Royal family. Such Princes are known as “being born in a pure womb”. They are the Chow Fa’s. | ||
| The questions of principles involved, of which I would like to ask your opinions are: | ||
| 1st Question | Should the King have the right to choose any Prince as his Heir? If the King has this right, ought not this right to be extended to a Council of High Princes and Ministers of State, in the case when the King dies without having chosen an Heir. At present the King alone has the right to nominate an Heir. It would be perhaps more logical to allow a Council of some sort to exercise that right when the King has not done so. This would be more consistent with the idea of an Elected King. | |
| 2nd. Question | Should the principle of choice be admitted at all or ought the succession to be by birth alone, and ought there to be some amendments to the present law or not? | |
| b) The Powers of the King. | As you well known, the King has absolute power in everything. This principle is very good and very suitable for the country, as long as we have a good King. If the King is really an Elected King it is probable that he would be a fairly good King. But this idea of election is really a very theoretical one, and in reality the King⟨s⟩ of Siam are really hereditary, with a very limited possibility of choice. Such being the case, it is not at all certain that we shall always have a good King. Then the absolute power may become a positive danger to the country. Besides this, things have very much changed. In olden days the actions of the King were hardly ever questioned. It would not have been safe to do so. The King was really respected and his words were really laws. But things began to change with the new order of things. In the days of King Chulalongkorn, the King was still very much feared and respected. Even then towards to the end |
