Crown Prince of Thailand


The Crown Prince of Thailand is a title held by the heir apparent to the Thai throne. First created by King Chulalongkorn in 1886, for his son Prince Maha Vajirunhis, the king's eldest son by a royal wife Queen Savang Vadhana. Prior to this, the Siamese throne did not have a law or formal system regulating the royal succession. In 1688 King Petracha of Ayutthaya created the title of Front Palace, which by the Rattanakosin period had become the main title granted to the heir presumptive to the throne. However few Front Palaces have succeeded to the throne this way, with the exception of King Buddha Loetla Nabhalai in 1809. After the Front Palace crisis in 1875, the title of Front Palace was abolished and replaced with the title of Crown Prince, who became heir apparent to the throne.
In 1924 King Vajiravudh promulgated the 1924 Palace Law of Succession to regulate the succession, this law essentially barred females, children of commoner wives or children of foreign wives to the throne, it also re-affirmed Agnatic Primogeniture, or succession through the male-line by seniority. This law also affected the individuals who could become Crown Prince. Since its creation three Princes have been raised to this title, and two have succeeded to the throne.

Crown Princes

Heirs-apparent and heirs-presumptive to the throne

List of heirs apparent and heirs presumptive since 1886, those in bold succeeded to the throne as King.

Citations