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Comeback kings: the Instagram royals who reinvented Asia’s monarchies
- Ignore abdications in Malaysia and Japan and forget the turmoil in Thailand
- A new breed of monarch is breathing new life into the region’s long love affair with its royals – and it’s not afraid of letting social media know about it
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Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Shakespeare’s musing on the trappings of monarchy may be 400 years old, but it appears as pertinent now as ever for the royal families of Asia. In Thailand, King Vajiralongkorn has vetoed his sister’s bid to run for prime minister; in Malaysia, the public reels from the abdication of a king rumoured to have married a Russian model; in Japan, an ageing emperor will soon become the first to step down voluntarily in more than 200 years.
Still, what looks to the untrained eye like a rough patch for the region’s royals could also be seen as testament to their continuing sway over politics in Asia, home to more than a quarter of the world’s 29 remaining monarchies.
Some are symbolic figureheads, such as King Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia, while others are absolute monarchs: Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has dispensed with elections and made himself prime minister, defence minister, and finance minister.
Elsewhere, the monarch’s influence is less obvious, but no less real. Thailand flirts with democracy, but is ruled by a junta and many suspect the king holds the cards politically; Malaysia has an elected government, yet its people look to their Agong (king) for cultural confidence and spiritual guidance.
In Indonesia, a democracy with no official royal family, small sultanates endure as influential cultural and traditional institutions.
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