Debsirindra Chakri

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, known as Rama I, founded the Chakri dynasty in 1782 after the fall of the Thonburi kingdom and established Bangkok as the new capital of Siam on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River. Born in Ayutthaya in 1737, he rose through military ranks under King Taksin before taking the throne himself. As king, he rebuilt Siamese administration, law, and religion after decades of war with Burma, commissioning a revised legal code and restoring Buddhist temples and texts. His son with chief consort Amarindra, Isarasundhorn, succeeded him as Rama II. He reigned until his death in 1809 and remains the dynasty's namesake, its royal house named for his pre-royal title, Chao Phraya Chakri.

Buddha Loetla Nabhalai, known as Rama II, ruled Siam from 1809 to 1824 as the second monarch of the Chakri dynasty. Born in 1767, the son of Rama I and Queen Amarindra, he is remembered chiefly as a poet-king who revived Siamese literature and classical arts after the disruptions of the eighteenth century, personally composing verse and sponsoring the royal poets of his court. He fathered two sons who would each later reign as king: Prince Jessadabodindra, by consort Sri Sulalai, who became Rama III, and Prince Mongkut, by principal queen Sri Suriyendra, who became Rama IV. He died in Bangkok in 1824.

Phra Nangklao, known as Rama III, reigned as King of Siam from 1824 to 1851, succeeding his father Rama II ahead of his more senior half-brother, the future Rama IV. Born in 1788, he expanded Siam's trade with China and, later in his reign, with Western powers, while overseeing military campaigns that secured Siamese influence over Laos and Cambodia. A devout patron of Buddhism, he sponsored the restoration and construction of numerous temples, including Wat Pho and Wat Arun in Bangkok. He never married a principal queen and left no heir positioned to succeed him, so on his death in 1851 the throne passed to his half-brother Mongkut, who became Rama IV.

Ananda Mahidol, known as Rama VIII, was King of Thailand from 1935 to 1946. Born in Heidelberg, Germany in 1925, the elder son of Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and Srinagarindra, he was still a schoolboy in Switzerland when he inherited the throne at age nine following his uncle Prajadhipok's abdication, and a regency governed in his name for most of his reign. He returned to Thailand only briefly as an adult before his sudden death at the Grand Palace in Bangkok in June 1946, at age twenty. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Bhumibol Adulyadej, as Rama IX.

Bhumibol Adulyadej, known as Rama IX, reigned as King of Thailand from 1946 until his death in 2016, the longest reign of any Thai monarch. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1927, the younger son of Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and Srinagarindra, he succeeded his elder brother Ananda Mahidol at age eighteen. Over seven decades he became a unifying figure through repeated political upheavals, sponsoring thousands of rural development projects on poverty, agriculture, and water management. He married Sirikit in 1950, and their four children were Ubolratana, Vajiralongkorn (later Rama X), Sirindhorn, and Chulabhorn. He died in Bangkok in 2016.

Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya is the eldest child of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit, and the elder sister of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X). Born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1951, she gave up her royal titles in 1972 upon marrying an American, Peter Ladd Jensen, and lived in the United States for over two decades, working as an actress and businesswoman. Following her divorce, she returned to live in Thailand in the early 2000s and resumed an active public role in royal family events, though without reinstating her full royal title. She has remained largely engaged in charitable and film-related work.

Maha Vajiralongkorn, known as Rama X, has reigned as King of Thailand since 2016, succeeding his father Bhumibol Adulyadej. Born in Bangkok in 1952, the only son of Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit, he was educated in Australia and the United Kingdom and trained as a military pilot before being formally named Crown Prince in 1972. He assumed the throne after a period of mourning following his father's death, and was formally crowned in a traditional ceremony in 2019. He has been married several times; his current wife, since 2019, is Queen Suthida. He is the tenth monarch of the Chakri dynasty.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is the second daughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit, and a younger sister of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X). Born in Bangkok in 1955, she pursued advanced academic studies in history, Pali, and Oriental languages, and has long been regarded as one of the most publicly active and popular members of the Thai royal family for her work in education, rural development, and disaster relief. In 1977 she was granted the special title Maha Chakri, elevating her standing among the royal children. She has never married and remains a full-time working member of the royal family.

Queen Amarindra (born Nak) was the chief consort of King Rama I and the first queen consort of the Chakri dynasty. Born around 1737 in Samut Songkhram, she married the future king before his rise to the throne and supported him through the turbulent years following the fall of Ayutthaya and the Thonburi period. As queen, she was known for her piety and patronage of Buddhist temples in the new capital of Bangkok. Her son Isarasundhorn succeeded his father as Rama II. She lived to see her son and grandson (Rama III) both reign, dying in 1826 at an advanced age, one of the longest-lived consorts of the early dynasty.

Somdet Phra Sri Suriyendra (born Boonrod) was the principal queen consort of King Rama II and mother of Prince Mongkut, who later reigned as Rama IV. Born in 1767, she was a cousin of her husband and held the highest rank among his consorts, giving her son a strong claim to the succession that was nonetheless passed over in 1824 in favor of his older half-brother, Rama III. She lived to see Mongkut spend nearly three decades as a Buddhist monk before finally ascending the throne in 1851, though she died in 1836, some years before his accession.

Queen Saovabha Phongsri was a consort of King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) and one of the most influential royal women of the Chakri dynasty. Born in 1863, she was both a half-sister and a wife of the king, a marriage pattern then customary among Siamese royalty, and bore him numerous children, including three future kings: Vajiravudh (Rama VI), Prajadhipok (Rama VII), and, through their son Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, the grandfather of Rama VIII and Rama IX. In 1897 she served as regent of Siam while Chulalongkorn undertook his first state visit to Europe, becoming the first woman to formally head the Siamese government. She died in 1919.