It does not take visitors long to realise that royalty has a more exalted status in Thailand than in most of the world's constitutional monarchies. The king's picture is everywhere. The royal anthem, rather than the national one, is played before every screening at the cinema-and failure to stand up for it results in a sharp prod from an usher. Tall buildings must not overshadow the royal palace, and traffic must not cross bridges when a royal motorcade passes beneath. Members of the royal family, if not the king himself, perform the country's most important religious rituals, confer all university degrees, supervise development projects and so on and so forth.
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