welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm duncan golestani with continuing coverage of the funeral of the king of thailand. hundreds of thousands of mourners have converged on the capital — bangkok — for a 5—day buddhist ceremony. this is the scene live as the funeral procession continues ahead of the planned royal cremation. i'm jonathan head live at the scene as an entire country pays its respects to its former monarch. this is bbc news. hundreds of thousands of mourners have converged on bangkok, many camping on the streets,

to bid farewell to thailand's revered king bhumibol adulyadej. a funeral procession has begun and the cremation will take place at the end of the day, as part of a five—day buddhist funeral ceremony. elaborate preparations, including the construction of a vast cremation complex, have taken almost a year. this is the scene live now in bangkok where hundreds of thousands of people are gathering ready for royal cremation day. many enduring the tropical heat during the day, torrential rain at night as they camped out, waiting to get their place and notjust in bangkok but in other parts of thailand as well but bangkok is going to be the focus for the coming days as people try to get a sight of some of those processions, this elaborate 5— day ceremony that has been rehearsed meticulously. an

estimated cost of $90 million. it will blend thailand's which culture and history for as they say a final farewell to king bhumibol. let us ta ke farewell to king bhumibol. let us take a look at the late king's final journey. a total of six processions are involved in the funeral in bangkok. the first three take place on thursday starting at the dusit maha prasat throne hall inside the grand palace. from there, the royal urn will be carried on a large palanquin with three poles, travelling around the grand palace to the wat pho temple complex. there, the urn will be transferred to the royal chariot of great victory, which was built during the reign of king rama in the 1790s and has been used to carry royals ever since. the elaborate pavilion throne will then travel nearly 900m over about two hours to the royal crematorium. joining me from bangkok

is our correspondentjonathan head. jonathan, can you just tell us what the mood is like on the streets? you can probably see around me, there is an enormous crowd. these people have been waiting overnight, some earlier. they are hoping to get a chance to get through a number of security gates that take them into the inner sanctum of the old historic quarter which is dominated by this glittering gold pavilion where the cremation will take place in the complex around them. it seems unlikely they will get in. they are hopeful. to give you a sense of what this means, it's been a very quiet, relaxed atmosphere, almost like a giantfamily relaxed atmosphere, almost like a giant family picnic but people are sensing they are coming into the

final hours and everybody wants to be part of this. this is a king who overtook —— overshadowed their lives, a man they credit with shaping our country, giving them stability, helping avoid the wars that plagued neighbouring countries and there is an intense feeling of devotion and fondness. it is genuine affection. you get that mood here. it's a different atmosphere inside the temple complex where the royal earned is now very formalised, being elaborate we prepared over many months and it prevents —— presents the monarchy as this central core of the monarchy as this central core of the country's political arrangements in this high status arrangement. the king is seen as a god. there is a huge amount of strict formality that surrounds that. it's like there are two different funeral is going on. 0rdinary people with their devotion which is very moving and these incredibly elaborate and quite beautiful and often baffling

formalities inside the royal temple where the body is about to be moved. it is absolutely incredible, the numbers that are turning out, as we can see from behind you. what is your sense of that feeling there? is it about respect for the monarchy as a whole or is it about the man, the person, the king? i don't think the thai people separate that. the monarchy had almost vanish at the time king bhumibol found himself at the age of 18 thrust onto the phone. notjust him, there was a huge amount of effort that went to building the status of a comment —— the monarchy but he personifies it. when people talk about the cult of monarchy in thailand, many say it is the cult of king bhumibol, the devotion to him himself. it's a personal relationship. everyone feels their lives have been touched by the king. you have to remember the whole thing is bound up with intention loyalist propaganda. the

very organised programme to give people the sense that this is what helped the country together. there are laws of course that restrict what people can say. you don't hear dissenting voices but you can't doubt the genuine feelings of people here. they think they have a lot to be grateful for. they felt that king bhumibol cared about them, that he took a lot of trouble over projects by ordinary people but they could have been a lot worse off when they look at their neighbours and so many have come here for those reasons. something like 13 million people, a staggering number in a country of 68 million, have come to pay their respects to the body of the king and this is their chance to say goodbye. when you look at people here, you get this really quite natural feeling for ordinary people. i was able to talk to one of the king's

relatives, a great—granddaughter, to get her sense about what the ceremony has meant for her. it means a lot, actually, and it is the people you see on the street that make it very vivid, very emotional. some people could save very extravagant but i think it is rather wonderful, actually. we see this really emotional connection between him and ordinary people, genuine personal affection. there is that kind of bond and yet in a country where royalist propaganda is so prevalent and you have so many restrictions on what you can say about the royal family, people outside are bound to ask, is it genuine, this love? i think it is genuine. for example, i've been brought up in britain and in

thailand so i am interested in democracy and equality and all is that sort of thing that i feel it is much as anyone else. and i was surprised in a way how upset i felt when he died and going on the streets and seeing people. i think it's very genuine. you have been quite critical of the weight expression about monarchy has been restricted. i don't think that's very helpful but apart from that, it doesn't mean he has not been a great king in many ways. it's been our whole lives. anyone who is younger than 70 will have known only this king and so it's a very historic moment so it's all about us as well is him. it's us that the end of the total epoque to many of us. did you have many dealings with him, many personal encounters that tour to a little bit about what kind of man he was? my mother was quite close to the queen and we would go and have

tea with the queen and we had a house by the sea as well so we would go in the sea, to the palace, and go in the sea, this sort of thing where we couldn't leave the sea unless they would come out. and i would be quite young and get exhausted. and i would come out all sort of shrivelled up. that was good, that was fun. when i was a bit older, that was when i started publishing. i went that was when i started publishing. iwent and that was when i started publishing. i went and presented a book to him that he was extremely charming. i was on the floor, going down in a respectable position and he said no, i insist you come and sit on the chair, which i thought was great. not everyone does that. we had a really long chat about the duties of a publisher. he was very interested in the environmental work i was doing so the conversations i had with him, he was extremely serious but very well informed some other timel but very well informed some other time i went to see him, we talked

about water purification, that sort of thing. that is what made him loved. he touched so many aspects of people's lives. is it a mix of love and fear that people feel? there is and fear that people feel? there is a sense of that. i would say with him, it is more love than fear. he did have a great human side and i think that came across. that was such an interesting discussion you had. can you tell me, and are no public discussion of this is difficult but how do the thai people feel about the monarchy now in the future, about what comes next? you are absolutely right. it's very difficult to talk about, they won't be doing it now. behind this deep, deep respect and attitude to king bhumibol, there is a certain amount of anxiety. that was inevitable.

thailand has changed so much as so much is attributed to him and the way he guided the country and managed it. there is a sense that inevitably this is a massive historic turning point. the other point is his son is a different personality, he has come to the throne much later, in his 60s, in a fast changing asia with an awful lot of threats, a lot of social change and the new king has made it clear he wants to be much more overtly influential on political matters. king bhumibol was very supple in the way he exercised his influence. that leaves people sensing our country will change and because of the untouchable nature of the monarchy and the immense power it can hold, there is some uncertainty and anxiety about how the new king will manage his role. jonathan, i know we are going to talk to you in the coming hours. thank you very much. we can speak to michael montesano, from the thailand studies programme at the iseas—yusof ishak institute.

he joins me live from tokyo. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. just put this into context. how important is the monarchy in the lives of the thai people? during the reign of king bhumibol, the monarchy was really important. largely because of the cold war context in which thailand found itself. the king played a very important symbolic role in bringing political unity to thailand at a time when there were cold war threats both external and internal. at the same time through a network of courtiers, at advisers and associates, the king was able to steer thai politics on a month—to—month basis during the most important decades of his reign. he

took the throne at 18 so when you talk about that, steering that course, building unity, that is quite incredible at such a young age and he had spent a lot of his life outside of thailand. he did not begin to play that role when he first took the throne. there was a good decade in which he was in active and seemed to be quite weak. in the 1950s, he developed what ended up being a very fruitful partnership with a military strongman who took power in a coup in 1958 strongman who took power in a coup in1958 and strongman who took power in a coup in 1958 and the two of them said about in partnership reviving the role of the monarchy in modern tyre life. in the early 1970s, he began to play an increasingly active political role, largely once seen as a role that involved him intervening at critical moments in the political life of thailand but that role transcended his involvement in critical moments. he reigned through

so many military coups. just how did he manage that balance between building democratic institutions but also with these military uprisings? i'm not sure that we really need to accept the role of propaganda in phrasing our question that way. his partnership with the thai military was long—standing and in dash and i think at various crucial moments the monarchy and the military shared a vision of stability. many people in the money and upper middle—class in bangkok associated the king with a particular vision of democracy. —— money. in the past 15 years, there has been mounting criticism of the vision of democracy associated with the monarchy and whether the vision fits the circumstances of thailand

society today. you mentioned propaganda. do you think these are themes that have been pumped out by themes that have been pumped out by the thai authorities over the years? you have to understand that the most important decades of the king's rain ora time important decades of the king's rain or a time when there was no internet, there was really no private television in thailand, when images of the king visiting villages around the country made a big impact on people. when the segment of royal news on every night's news was something people across the country watched. and one of the challenges for the thai monarchy today is finding a role in a more complex society, are better informed society, are better informed society, are better educated society and a society that has access to a lot more forms of media. thank you very much was speaking. stay with us on bbc news.

paul allen the funeral of the king of thailand. we speak to some of those who came to bangkok to pay their respects. indira gandhi, ruler of the world's largest democracy, died today. 0nly yesterday she'd spoken of dying in the service of her country and said, "i would be proud of it, every drop of my blood would contribute to the growth of this nation". after 46 years of unhappiness, these two countries have concluded a chapter of history. no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty of what each day might bring. booster ignition and liftoff of discovery, with a crew of six astronaut heroes and one american legend. well, enjoying the show is right — this is beautiful. a milestone in human history.

born today, this girl in india is the 7 billionth person on the planet. this is bbc news. our top story: hundreds of thousands of mourners have converged on bangkok, many camping on the streets, to bid farewell to thailand's revered king bhumibol adulyadej. a funeral procession has begun and the cremation will take place at the end of the day, as part of a five—day buddhist funeral ceremony. joining me now via webcam from manila is kevin villanueva, professor of international politics at the university

of the philippines. can you give us some context as to what goes into all the rituals and the pomp and ceremony we are seeing on our screens? well, duncan, i should start by saying i think more than anything the pomp and ceremony symbolises not only the monarchy, all right, but the man himself. because the monarchy was exceptional, not in the sense of the robe of duty that he wore, but simply because the king, king bhumibol, was a tough act to follow. he lived an exemplary life. it has been said over the past few days, and arbiter, a peace broker, in his professional life he brought the monarchy, he brought heart to the monarchy. so in that sense he went to the rural communities, and he

created projects that the elite otherwise would not have dreams for the urban poor. so in that sense, what you see, all right, apart from the ritual itself, is really a celebration, all right, and a commemoration of not the era of the monarchy itself, but i think the era of bhumibol. and in that sense i agree with what jonathan of bhumibol. and in that sense i agree with whatjonathan said, in that he was very much larger than life. what were his passions and causes? how did he feel his days quiz at well, let us recall that he was actually educated in the sun, switzerland, and he was born in the us, he grew up, as we read from accounts, in snowcapped mountains instead of rice paddy fields. --

lausanne. so what you saw eventually was his training as an engineer at the university of lausanne, where his major switched to law, but at the same time, his own... as an aficionado, his love of music. so he played with the greats like any good men in the us, and he composed his own music. but, in terms of the impact that he had, he built dams, asa impact that he had, he built dams, as a naturalist, he was inspired by how the river could actually co nse rve how the river could actually conserve its water. but at the same time he was also very active in healthcare, in education, and this is, i think, healthcare, in education, and this is, ithink, where healthcare, in education, and this is, i think, where the new king, all right, we'll do certainly have to be thinking what kind of a contribution he is going to be making in thai society. 0k, kevin. i know we will

be speaking to you again in the next few hours. but thank you forjoining us. queues of mourners have snaked around parts of the city's old town. 0ur correspondentjoined them. so this is what the centre of bangkok looks like today, every single person dressed in black, waiting for their last chance to say goodbye to their late king. and the numbers of people here in the centre of bangkok today are truly extraordinary. it must be in the hundreds of thousands. that over there, that golden pagoda like building, that is where the ceremony will take place. and if you look on the other side of the street here, these are the people lining up hoping to get closer, hoping to get a glimpse of the ceremony. in this line stretches back down the street for more than a kilometre. 0ver line stretches back down the street for more than a kilometre. over the past year, since the king's death, it is estimated that 12 million

tyres have come here to bangkok to pay their respects. —— thais. these people probably have little chance of seeing the actual ceremony. but it doesn't matter, theyjust want to be here. translation: we have been hit in the very early morning. just a lines of that crematorium, and we are happy. translation: i love him so are happy. translation: i love him so much, even when i watch his news on tv now, i still cry. translation: it is not just on tv now, i still cry. translation: it is notjust i want to be here. i must be here. we are his royal subjects, we are his children. the funeral ceremony will begin at the royal palace, which you can't actually see from here, and then there will be a five—hour procession, where the funeral urn will be carried atop a huge wooden chariot and towed slowly through the streets until it ends up here at the golden pagoda building behind me. and that is where the actual cremation will take place at 10pm on thursday night. joining me from bangkok is our correspondentjonathan head. jonathan, what is happening with the

procession right now? it is a little way from here, so a few hundred metres away from here, inside the royal palace. there have been about one hour of buddhist rites, and we have been hearing the bloom of gun salutes going off every minute, while the urn, this elaborate lee carved sandalwood urn, is moved from where it has been lying in state for the last year onto a traditional... it is almost like a chair, carried on polls by specially trained soldiers and it will be moved out of the royal palace to wear this extraordinary 1a ton, 18th—century chariot, it hardly looks like a chariot, it hardly looks like a chariot, it hardly looks like a chariot, it is so intricately carved and gilded, will then carry the urn to the site of the cremation. so we are still at the very beginning of this morning procession. it ——

mourning procession. the people around me are still hoping to get a little bit closer. that seems unlikely. for most thais who have come into the centre of bangkok, they know it is going on, they can hear the guns, they can see the progress on their phones, and they will simply feel that they are as close as they can get to the king as we build—up in the hours ahead to the final cremation. jonathan, this is the result of the year of planning and rehearsals. why has it been one year? what is the significance of that? funerals for important members of the royal family are always planned over a very long period of time. there are certain days that are required for lying in state, for people to pay their respects, intervals of days. it is an extraordinary mix here in thailand. it is a buddhist country, but a great deal of the ritual that

surrounds the funerals of kings comes from brahmanic and hindu influences. the king is believed to be the embodiment of god, and there is even a chinese influence in some of the dates that are chosen. so it round—up with cosmology, with superstition, and the king was western educated. we have no idea how superstitious he was what we know that a lot of thais believed very deeply in the importance of timing. remember, this is an ultra— royalist military government, and they have been able to use it to push home the absolute importance of the monarchy, even after king bhumibol‘s death, in the political order of this country. we will speak more in the coming hours, but thank you very much. we will have continuing coverage from thailand. stay with us on bbc news. hello there, good morning. there are

some significant changes to come over the next few days. once again, though, on wednesday, it was another mild day with much more sunshine around, and we saw temperatures as high as 20 degrees in the south—east. but over the next few days, for all of us the wind direction is going to change. it is going to drag down some cold air as well. at the moment, this weather front is on the scene. having moved southwards, it is now moving northwards, dragging misty, murky, damp weather in the englund and wales. north of that, though, clearer skies in scotland but enough of wind to prevent the temperatures getting too low, and across the far north of scotland we have got some showers. lighter winds for northern ireland, could be some patchy mist in fog early in the morning here. cloud spilling into northern england. a bit of dampness around as well. a damp start, with much more low cloud across wales, the midlands, towards east anglia as well. some hill fog light likely. more likelihood of low fog in the

south—east where there is much your mac not much wind to stir things up at the moment. but it may well brighten up across southern counties of england and turn out to be another mild day. and we have got the sunny skies in scotland away from the northern showers. more sunshine for northern ireland, perhaps the far north of england, but in between, zone of much more low cloud. temperatures much lower than they were yesterday and we could see much more rain and drizzle through much of the day across east yorkshire and lincolnshire. that weather front, though, is yorkshire and lincolnshire. that weatherfront, though, is weak yorkshire and lincolnshire. that weather front, though, is weak and it will get pulled apart as high pressure builds in overnight into friday. and it is going to drag down with that high pressure some clearer skies. so more sunshine on the way on friday. the chilly start, maybe a touch of frost on the grass from wales, the midlands, northwards, and maybe some mist in fog as well, but otherwise a brighter day. more sunshine, and bridges where they should be for this time of year. things change again on saturday. you will notice the wind really starting to pick up. there will be more cloud around. there is likely to be some showers around as well. it is all

because an area of low pressure is running close to our shores. that though is going to dive its way into europe and bring some really wet and windy weather into much of europe this weekend. the position of this high pressure behind that is crucial, because it means for us on sunday we are going to get more of a northerly wind, and that is going to drag down some cold air across the uk. you will notice that feeling much, much chillier, especially in the wind, which will be strongest down the eastern side of the uk. temperatures 13 or 1a in the south, and struggling to eight or nine in the north. there may be one or two showers. as the winds drop away overnight we could start quite frosty, particularly in the countryside, on monday morning. this is bbc news. the headlines: hundreds of thousands of mourners have converged on bangkok — many camping on the streets — to bid farewell to thailand's revered king bhumibol adulyadej. a funeral procession has begun and the cremation will take place

at the end of the day — as part of a five—day buddhist funeral ceremony. security has been tightened in kenya ahead of a controversial re—run of the presidential election which is being boycotted by the main opposition. tens of thousands of security personnel have been deployed to protect voters and polling stations. the opposition leader has denounced the election as a sham. tributes are coming in for one of the pioneers of rock and roll — fats domino — who has died at the age of eighty—nine. starting out as a pianist in a bar — he became one of the first black artists to feature regularly in the mainstream charts. now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament.