The 1946 Succession Crisis and the Reshaping of Royalist Historiography in Thailand

The mysterious death of King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) in 1946 from a gunshot wound became the pivotal catalyst for the monarchy’s political restoration and a fundamental rewriting of modern Thai history. This event set in motion a chain of political maneuvers that culminated in the destruction of the People’s Party factions and the systematic discrediting of the 1932 revolution within official narratives. The royalists, who had begun regrouping during WWII within the Seri Thai (Free Thai) resistance alongside Pridi Phanomyong, leveraged the tragedy to mount a decisive comeback. Almost immediately, rumors orchestrated by royalist politicians like Kukrit and Seni Pramoj accused Pridi of regicide and republican ambitions, forcing him into exile.

The political vacuum enabled a decisive military coup in November 1947, which installed the royalist Democrat Party in power. This coalition enacted a new constitution that radically rolled back democratic reforms and significantly augmented the powers of the throne. Subsequently, Pridi’s liberal faction was purged, and by 1957, the last major People’s Party figure, Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun), was overthrown by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, who established a dictatorship in close alliance with the new king, Bhumibol Adulyadej. This solidified the monarchy-military alliance as the dominant force in Thai politics for decades.

Crucial to this political shift was a parallel campaign to control historical memory, led by released royalist prisoners known as the “True Blue” faction. As scholar Natthaphon Jaijing has documented, these aristocrats, journalists, and intellectuals produced a flood of polemical works that demonized the People’s Party. Publications like Prachathipatai 17 pi (17 Years of Democracy) by Lui Khiriwat painted an idealized portrait of the Absolute Monarchy, recasting it as a benevolent, proto-democratic system. Lui argued the 1932 revolution was unnecessary, co-opting King Prajadhipok’s (Rama VII) abdication letter to portray him as a “true democrat” betrayed by usurpers.

The intellectual effort to redefine Thai democracy was championed by Seni Pramoj, founder of the Democrat Party. In his collection Bueang Lang Prawattisat (Behind the History), Seni articulated a central tenet of royalist historiography: that Thailand possessed a unique, king-bestowed democracy dating to King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai, which was superior to Western models. He framed the People’s Party not as revolutionary founders but as “rebels” who destroyed this indigenous democratic tradition, thereby establishing the potent political myth of Rama VII as the “Father of Thai Democracy.”

The most influential vehicle for these historical ideas was not a scholarly treatise but a literary classic: the historical novel Si Phaen Din (Four Reigns) (1953) by Kukrit Pramoj. This seminal work, studied nationwide and adapted repeatedly for screen, dramatized royalist historiography through the life of a noblewoman, Phloi. The novel serves as an allegory for the nation, contrasting the harmonious, culturally rich reigns of four kings with the chaos and conflict introduced by the People’s Party. It immortalizes the narrative of great, modernizing kings, the tragic-democrat Prajadhipok, and the People’s Party as destructive rebels, embedding this perspective deeply into Thai popular consciousness and ensuring the hegemony of royalist historical narrative for generations.