Thai people from all walks of life, both at home and overseas, shared their grief yesterday on the one-year anniversary of the passing of their beloved national father-figure the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Many opted to do volunteer work and make merit at Buddhist temples in remembrance of the late King, while others took to social media to describe and share their feelings in words and images.
Princess Ubolratana, the eldest daughter of the late King, posted a portrait of the King on her Instagram account, @nichax, along with a message which read: "On this day last year, our father went to heaven but he will be in [our] hearts forever."
Her Instagram post drew a massive reaction from her followers who took the opportunity to join her in remembering the late King.
A Facebook user, Surachai Chupaka, posted a portrait of the late King together with a brief story about what he and over 1,000 students of his at Ramkhamhaeng University have done during the past year to commemorate the life of the King.
"I've wiped away my tears and turned my grief into the power for concentrating on my research," read Mr Surachai's message.
He said on the day of the passing of the King, he initiated a research project titled "public culture through King Rama IX's personal films".
The research team found that in every image shot through the late King's lens there were images of his people, said Mr Surachai.
Another Facebook user by the name of Nopphakorn Sripha changed his profile photo to a photo of him when he was a child and posted messages that people have used to describe how grateful they feel to have lived during the reign of the late King.
Sirikanya Mang posted a video clip from parliament on her Facebook page which captured a group singing of the royal anthem to mark the first anniversary of the King's passing.
Among the most common hashtags used on the social media yesterday were #Missing you dad#, #Love the King#, #King Rama IX#, #King Bhumibol#, #365 days without you, dad# and #May His Majesty be in our hearts forever#.
