page_title: Front Palace Crisis
section_title: Chulalongkorn
hierarchical_section_title: Front Palace Crisis / Prelude / Chulalongkorn
context_page_description: The Front Palace Crisis or the Front Palace incident was a political crisis that took place in the Kingdom of Siam from 28 December 1874 to 24 February 1875. The crisis was a power struggle between the reformist King Chulalongkorn and the conservative Prince Bovorn Vichaichan, the Vice King. Chulalongkorn came to the throne in 1868, Vichaichan was appointed Front Palace or Vice King in the same year.
  The progressive reforms of King Chulalongkorn aroused the ire of Prince Vichaichan and the nobility, who saw their power and influence being slowly eroded. A fire in the Grand Palace led to an open confrontation between the two factions. Prompting Vichaichan to flee to the British Consulate, as a result the crisis reached stalemate. The crisis was finally resolved with the presence of Sir Andrew Clarke the Governor of the Straits Settlements, who supported the king over his cousin. Afterwards the Front Palace was stripped of its power and after Vichaichan's death in 1885 the title was abolished.
context_section_description: On 20 September 1873 King Chulalongkorn formally reached his majority at the age of 20, resulting in the dissolution of the regency of Si Suriyawongse. During the five years of the regency, Vichaicharn decided to limit his role and power out of reverence for the Regent, who arranged for his appointment. With the dissolution of the regency, Vichaichan was ready to reassert the powers of his office. Unfortunately, Chulalongkorn and his brothers (the Young Siam group) were at the same time trying to consolidate his own authority and return to the Grand Palace the power it had lost since the death of his father. Spurred on by their Western education, Young Siam was intent on creating a centralized and strong nation under an absolute monarch. To achieve this goal, Chulalongkorn needed to implement radical reforms in all parts of the Royal Government.
  In 1873 the king established the 'Auditing Office' (หอรัษฎากรพิพัฒน์, now the Ministry of Finance). It was created to modernize and simplify the collection of state revenues and taxes to the treasury. At the same time, however, it deprived the control of nobility (as landowners) over tax farms, which for generations had constituted a large part of their income. The following years the king by Royal Decree created the 'Privy Council of Siam' (สภากรรมการองคมนตรี). Copied from the European tradition, the council was an effort by the king to shore up his own legitimacy and to create an elite he could rely on. In their inauguration speeches, the forty-eight councilors pledged allegiance to the Monarch and his heirs.
  These reforms infuriated the conservative faction at court, the Old Siam composed mainly of old aristocratic families, as the financial reforms eroded some of their old privileges. Politically the creation of the Privy Council meant that only royal favourites had access to political offices, depriving the old families of their influences. This group included Vichaichan, whose role in the finance and the government of the kingdom was slowly being eroded. Conflict between the opposing sides seemed inevitable. Vichaichan had the support of the British Consul-General to Siam, Thomas George Knox. He was originally recruited by Pinklao to modernize the Front Palace's armed forces. After Mongkut's death, Knox greatly preferred the mature and experienced Vichaichan — who was also the son of one of the most westernized member of the elite to ascend the throne — over the young, unknown and radical Chulalongkorn.
caption: A young King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "90", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "278", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "438"}