Posted on 10/16/2002 7:31:20 AM PDT by bradactor
Rules of royal protocol bruised during queen's visit By SHELY HODGE Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
Thai hospitality and Texas grit suffered an uncomfortable collision Monday night when Queen Sirikit of Thailand, on her first visit to Houston, hosted a lavish black-tie dinner at the St. Regis Hotel.
The Thai side was flawless -- the beloved queen gracious, the five-course dinner executed meticulously, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn eloquent in his greetings.
On the heels of visits to New York and Washington, D.C., where the queen hosted equally grand evenings, the Thai entourage might have anticipated a sophisticated audience familiar with simple rules of protocol.
The 250 guests, including Jack Blanton and Ginger Renfroe, Lynn Wyatt, Katrin and Dr. Michael DeBakey, and Gail and Jenard Gross, gracefully filled their roles as adornments of power and influence. Thailand's honorary consul general, Charles Foster, and his wife, Lily, provided the Houston-Thailand liaison.
The crack in Houston's diplomatic veneer appeared with the arrival of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee -- 50 minutes after the appointed dinner hour wearing business attire rather than the "long evening dress" that was called for in the queen's invitation.
The wife of Thailand's lord chamberlain (the national treasurer) gave up her seat to make room for the late arrival. Never mind that this close friend of the Thai queen was already through her first course. Thai generosity of spirit prevailed even as the rules of protocol -- with two queens in the same ballroom -- were smashed like so many fragile tea cups.
After securing her seat, Lee made her way to the head table -- first to Mayor Lee Brown and then to the queen. It is a hard and fast rule: No one approaches a queen once she has been seated for dinner. Queen Sirikit, gracious to the core, rose from her seat, greeted the late-comer with aplomb and did not faint when one of Lee's aides strode up with flash camera in hand for a mid-dinner photo op
Didn't that airline ban her from any further flights?
One-word answer: reactionism.
To this American, the idea that a complete buffoon such as Ms. Lee can be ELECTED, simply out of anti-white reactionism, is an abomination far worse than anything Asian royalty has committed.
On the contrary, the monarch of Thailand is the final arbiter of who is allowed to run the government. This was made obvious in 1992, when an army general, Suchinda Krapayoon, who was then the prime minister, set the Army on protesters. Opposition political figures were pulled from thier houses and detained, people were machine-gunned in the streets, buildings were set ablaze in Bangkok.
Parliment did not stop this. Local authorities did not stop this. NGOs did not stop this.
The KING asserted control, removed Krapayoon from power, replaced him as PM, and outlined the action to be taken against other officers of the Army and government who had participated.
The point? The royalty of Thailand has more power than it may seem on paper. In my example, the king used that power for good, but the bottom line is that the power to replace the government is his, unquestioned by most Thais. Thailand is NOT England.
She's lucky they couldn't drop it on the tarmac from 5000 feet.
In that sense, the monarchy has the same legitimacy as any elected official.
Like the British the King in Thailand is totally symbolic and does not rule. They have a parliment, or sometimes a General. This still rubs a little I suppose, but then to insist that every nation end every trace of their historical political system simply to fit the modern model does not seem a conservative position either.
Her fluency in English came with her degree from Yale Law School. No kidding. Think she earned it? Surely they wouldn't just give a law degree to a black liberal, would they?
(1)did not have to compete with others for their special place in the Thai government
(2)the king and queen benefit from birth, not from their own efforts, from a pervasive governent-run mechanism that exists to make them look good and to encourage love and loyalty to the royalty
(3)are protected from critisism by the Thai constitution
These factors are inconsistent with freedom, particularly the freedom to choose one's own leaders. As I hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men are created eaqual, the existence of Thai royalty, or any royalty, is an abomination to me. I may not like Ms. Lee (and I don't), but she rose to her position through her own efforts, and in the face of electoral opposition. Therefore, she outranks all royalty in my book.
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