Thailand celebrates new king with coronation ceremony

Thailand coronation
(Image credit: Public Relations Department, Thailand/Getty Images)

Thailand officially has a new king.

For the first time in seven decades, The New York Times reports, a new monarch took the country's throne. King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun was formally crowned in a coronation ceremony in Bangkok on Saturday. The 66-year-old, per Thai custom, is now considered a deity. The people of Thailand reportedly showed great enthusiasm for the event, chanting "long live the king."

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.