Thailand is about to run out of pictures of the recently deceased King Bhumibol. Many Thais want a picture of the King and this has simply resulted in that stores start to run out of pictures and frames.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2010. Photo: Government of Thailand (CC BY 2.0) via Wikimedia Commons.
Charlie Wangthamrongwit, owns a shop in Bangkok that are selling pictures of the royal family, he told Reuters that he was sold out and it would take a few days before he got into enough material to create several new images of the King.
One of the last to secure a picture of the King in his shop was Suwan Jawal, he told Reuters that he would never sell the picture he bought of the King, it would be handed down to his son. He also said that despite the fact that he never met the king, he would always have him in his heart. It is not just pictures of the King that Thailand is about to run out of. Several media have reported that everywhere in Thailand, it is difficult to obtain black clothes. As many will wear black to mourn the King.
This has led to that Thailand has had to come up with measures to ensure that the price of the pictures of the king and black clothing does not go further up. In the days after the King’s death, many shops increased the price of black cloth and some stores went over to only selling black clothing and no other colors. Shirts typically sold for 100 Thai baht (£ 2.32) were seen leaving in the same day priced at 300 baht (£ 6.96).
In Thailand, royal souvenirs and pictures of particular the king, is highly popular. In connection with the 70th anniversary of the Thai-king on the throne, the Bank of Thailand created a commemorative banknote. Within a few hours, the Bank had sold 20 million such notes.
