Today is the Queen of Thailand’s Birthday, and a national
holiday. Not that you'd know from the holiday crowds. I guess low season tourism stops
for no one, so desperate a price war is there between companies to get people
on boats in the uncertain weather.
I have no idea how old Her Maj is and so I go a-wiki-ing to find out. I do know that she lives
on Koh Samui (this information from the young bus driver today). There are
pictures of her everywhere at the moment, mainly outside hotels. Some depict
her as a pretty young woman, others are perhaps more realistic and suggest a
mature woman grown stout with age.
listen (help·info)), born 12 August 1932 as Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kittiyakara (Thai: สิริกิติ์ กิติยากร;RTGS: Sirikit Kittiyakon), is the queen consort of Bhumibol Adulyadej, King (Rama IX) of Thailand. She met Bhumibol in Paris, where her father was the Thai ambassador. They married in 1950, shortly before Bhumibol's coronation. Sirikit was appointed Queen Regent in 1956. Sirikit produced one son and three daughters. As the consort of the king who is the world's longest-reigning head of state, she is also the world's longest-serving consort of a monarch. Sirikit suffered a stroke on 21 July 2012 and has since refrained from public appearances.
So there you go, Her Maj is four years older than my Mum, which makes her 81.
I watched a little of the coverage on local Thai TV, but it was pomp and ceremony and speech after speech in Thai that dragged on, with no sign of the old girl, so I switched off in boredom.
I watched a little of the coverage on local Thai TV, but it was pomp and ceremony and speech after speech in Thai that dragged on, with no sign of the old girl, so I switched off in boredom.
The quest for beauty and perpetual youth operates strongly here,
especially where women are concerned, so I have no doubt the younger-looking
the image, the more highly she is being held in esteem. Female Asian
dignatories do not, on the whole, go grey gracefully. It’s all right for the
blokes apparently. The usual round of myths about looking
distinguished/sexy/powerful etc etc prevails.
Ditto skin colour. All the Asian ‘aristocrats’ and
dignatories I see are depicted as improbably fair-skinned. This pursuit of
whiteness makes me cringe a bit: all these beautiful brown-skinned people trying
to look more European, yet avoiding a swim, the sensible thing to do to keep cool
in the heat when you are after all surrounded by water. But no, it’s not on, because
it means tanning, which is associated with low status labour in the
fields. As in Bali, I’ve seen whitening
treatments and even a ‘skin lightening’ drink for sale to locals and tourists.
What do they expect- to drink this magic remedy and then pee out their
melanin?! Speaking of which, I swear my wee is beginning to smell of coconut
and papaya…
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