Royal Barge Procession on the Occasion of the Coronation of King Rama X

On this occasion, the Government invites the people to attend an audience with Their Majesties the King and Queen, who will travel in the Royal Barge Procession through the city along the Chao Phraya River, from the Wasukri pier to the Ratchaworadit pier. The people participating in this event may wear yellow shirts.

Traditionally, at the conclusion of the coronation ceremony, for example, the newly crowned monarch performed a royal land procession and a royal barge procession, to give his subjects an opportunity to see him in person. In the reign of King Rama X, the Royal Land Procession took place on 5 May 2019, and the Royal Barge Procession is set to take place on 24 October 2019.

The royal procession by water is a rare spectacle. This time it will take about 45 minutes, with a length of about 3.4 kilometers, and there will be no presentation of kathin robes in a Royal Kathin Ceremony at Wat Arun. The Royal Thai Navy has organized the rehearsals of this ceremonial water-borne procession since August 2019. Full-dress rehearsals will be held twice, on 17 and 21 October.

The Royal Barge Procession comprises 52 barges, and among them, four are principal royal barges reserved for Their Majesties the King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family.

The four major royal barges are the Suphannahong, or Golden Swan; the Narai Song Suban King Rama IX; the Anantanakkharat, or Multi-headed Naga; and the Anekkachatphutchong, or Innumerable Naga Figures.

Among other ceremonial barges are barges with animal figureheads and smaller barges of less importance surrounding this formation. Most of the present fleet was constructed in the Rattanakosin period, as almost all of the barges were burnt when Ayutthaya was lost.

There will be 2,200 oarsmen to row the barges, which will be arranged into five lines with three rows. The order of the five-line formation is as follows: