page_title: Thai royal cremation ceremony
section_title: Funeral procession
hierarchical_section_title: Thai royal cremation ceremony / Funeral procession
context_page_description: The royal cremation ceremony is the final and most major event during Thai royal funerals.
context_section_description: After the final night service, on the cremation day a farewell morning service occurs at the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall of the Grand Palace in Bangkok, where the urn lay in state for a specific time period and had been earlier stripped of its outer decorations. After the morning service and breakfast served for the monks, a squad from 1st Infantry Regiment King's Own Bodyguard's 1st Battalion escort the urn out of the hall and into the gold Triple-Poled Royal Funeral Palanquin Carriage (Phra Yannamat Sam Lam Khan) outside the throne hall while honors are paid by the 3rd Btn, 1st Infantry Regiment (King's Own Bodyguard). As the covered funeral urn is placed on the carriage, an outer sandalwood cover is placed on it and the carriage, alongside a Royal Nine-Tiered Umbrella mounted atop it. After one more salute is rendered to the urn, the pallanquin and the 60 Royal Thai Army personnel handling it move out of the Deva Phirom gate of the Palace from the west wall into Maharaj Road. A royal procession contingent of battalion size awaits the party, including members of the Royal Family, the Prakhom band under the Bureau of the Royal Household and bearers of the royal regalia, flags, banners and golden umbrellas, led by two cavalry troopers of the Royal Thai Police. 
  As the Funeral Pallaquin Carriage meets the party and a member of the royal guards gives the signal via a clapper, the quick funeral march begins on Maharaj Road, turning left towards Tai Wan Alley and then marches towards the southeastern end of the Palace walls. Here a second, larger funeral contingent of regiment size awaits, as well as the Grand Royal Funeral Carriage (Phra Maha Phichai Ratcharot, also named as the Royal Great Victory Carriage) or the Lesser Royal Funeral Carriage (Vejayanta Ratcharot) and the Supreme Patriarch's Minor Royal Carriage (Ratcharot Noi). These are accompanied by the men and monks escorting them by Sanam Chai Street, nearby Wat Pho Temple, Saranrom Park and the Territorial Defense Command Building of the RTAF, at the eastern end of the Palace complex. The King's Guards guard the front and rear of the party and the royal relatives, students and businessmen form the rear contingents. As the first procession proceeds, a first Palanquin Carriage (Phra Saliang Kleebbua) follows with the Supreme Patriarch or his representative on top with monks and 16 handlers escorting the palanquin. Both processions are lined by cadets of the military academies and enlisted personnel and NCOs of the armed forces. A first gun salute follows the procession.
  The first Gold Triple-Poled Royal Funeral Palanquin Carriage stops near the Grand Royal Funeral Carriage and its handlers unload the urn, transferring it to the royal conveyor pulley (kroen bandai nak) in the presence of the Royal Family, while a second Royal Nine-Tiered Umbrella, larger in size, is mounted. Then the first Gold Triple-Poled Royal Funeral Pallaquin Carriage and its handlers march off. Prayers are then said by monks, and then the urn, escorted by an attendant in traditional uniforms, is transferred to the Grand Royal Funeral Carriage where its 6 escorts, 216 military handlers and 10 pulley staff (plus 48 King's Guards escorts and 16 pole bearers from the first procession) are assembled. Once the urn is placed atop the carriage and is placed on the butsabok (open-sided roofed structure), a Royal Salute is rendered (and the massed military bands play Sansoen Phra Barami for the King and Queen or Maha Chai for senior members of the royal family). Two additional attendants say prayers at the south and north of the urn, while the Supreme Patriarch (or in his absence his representative) mounts the Ratcharot Noi carrying Buddhist scriptures to read while 74 military handlers pull the ropes. With a clapper sounded and the bugler playing a bugle call, the slow royal funeral march starts with the Traditional Band playing traditional songs and the massed bands playing the slow funeral march Phayasok, composed by His late Royal Highness Prince Nagor Svarga. The Royal Family proceeds at the rear o
caption: Royal funeral ceremony of King Chulalongkorn in 1911 at Sanam Luang, Bangkok.
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