''Plerng Phra Nang'' (; ; lit: ''Her Majesty's Flame''; English title: The Royal Fire) was a Thai TV drama or ''

lakorn Lakorn ( related to Javanese ꦭꦏꦺꦴꦤ꧀ ''lakon'' from ꦭꦏꦸ ''laku'' "behavior") or ''lakhon'' is a popular genre of fiction in Thai television known in Thai as (lit. "television drama"). They are shown generally at prime-time ...

''. It aired on Thailand's Channel 7 from February 17 to April 15, 2017 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 20:30 for a total of 26 episodes.

Plot summary

The story is a thinly veiled depiction of the life story of

Hsinbyumashin Hsinbyumashin (; 22 November 1821 – 26 February 1900) was a List of Burmese consorts, senior queen of King Mindon Min of Burma during the Konbaung dynasty. She was known for the Bronze Hall Massacre. She was the daughter of King Bagyidaw and his ...

, queen of Burma (now

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

). It is set in the fictional country of Mueang Thip. Lady Ananthip has been stripped of her royal title. Her father, the late King Pitula, was deposed in a coup led by King Burapha Kham, who is the elder brother of Crown Princess Sekkaradewi. Out of resentment, she seeks revenge and precipitates the loss of Mueang Thip's independence.

Cast

Main characters Supporting characters

Criticism, impact and ratings

Plerng Phra Nang is a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

of a 1996 drama of the same name, also produced by Kantana Group. The script was based on M.R.

Kukrit Pramoj Mom Rajawongse Kukrit Pramoj (, , ; 20 April 1911 – 9 October 1995) was a Thai politician, author, scholar and professor. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Thailand between 1973 and 1974. He was the thirteenth Prime Minister o ...

’s 1969 nonfiction book ''The Fall of the Burmese'' (พม่าเสียกรุง) and Prince

Damrong Rajanubhab Prince Tisavarakumara, the Prince Damrong Rajanubhab (; Full transcription is "Somdet Phrachao Borommawongthoe Phra-ongchao Ditsawarakuman Kromphraya Damrongrachanuphap" (สมเด็จพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พ� ...

’s ''Journey Through Burma in 1936: A View of the Culture, History and Institutions'' (เที่ยวเมืองพม่า). Comparisons were made between the costumes of the characters in the 2017 version and those worn by

Fan Bingbing Fan Bingbing (, born 16 September 1981) is a Chinese actress. After gaining recognition for the costume drama '' My Fair Princess'' (1998–1999), Fan's breakthrough came with Feng Xiaogang's blockbuster '' Cell Phone'' (2003), which won her th ...

in ''

The Empress of China ''The Empress of China'' () is a 2014 Chinese television series based on events in the 7th and 8th-century Tang dynasty, starring producer Fan Bingbing as the titular character Wu Zetian—the only female emperor (empress regnant) in Chinese hi ...

.'' There were also complaints that some scenes were unrealistic.

Soe Win Soe Win is the name of: * Soe Win (prime minister) (1947–2007), Prime Minister of Burma * Soe Win (general), deputy commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) * Soe Win (minister) (born 1938), Minister for Planning and Finance of ...

, the great-grandson of

Thibaw Min Thibaw Min, also Thebaw (, ; 1 January 1859 – 16 December 1916), was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His reign ended when the Royal Burmese armed forces ...

, the last

King of Burma This is a list of the monarchs of Burma (Myanmar), covering the monarchs of all the major kingdoms that existed in the present day Burma (Myanmar). Although Burmese chronicles, Burmese chronicle tradition maintains that various monarchies of Bur ...

, called the drama "unwatchable" and "distasteful" and asked for the series to be taken off the air. The producer, Chitralada Disayanon, argued that the plot was "“unrelated to Burma and is completely fictional, with the costumes and setting not meant to evoke any country or time period in particular”. However, the massacre of 100 royal family members is a clear reference to events in Burma in 1879. There is also a direct mapping between the members of the Burmese royal family of the time and the characters in the drama: Lady Ananthip is Hsinbyumashin, King Muangkoom is

Mindon Min Mindon Min (, ; 1808 – 1878), born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate king of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma because of his role in the Fifth Buddhist Council. Under his half brothe ...

, Queen Pinmanee is Queen

Supayalat Supayalat (, ; 13 December 1859 – 24 November 1925), also spelt Suphayalat, was the last queen of Burma who reigned in Mandalay (1878–1885), born to King Mindon Min and Queen of Alenandaw (; also known as Hsinbyumashin or Lady of the White Elep ...

, King Maanfah is

, Upparat Kanaung is

Kanaung Mintha Kanaung Mintha (; 31 January 1820 – 2 August 1866) was crown prince of Burma and son of King Tharrawaddy and younger brother of King Mindon of Burma. He overthrew the king Pagan Min in 1846 with his brother Mindon and served as heir apparen ...

and King Burapha Kham is

Tharrawaddy Min Tharrawaddy Min (, ; 14 March 1787 – 17 November 1846) was the 8th king of the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma. He repudiated the Treaty of Yandabo and almost went to war with the British. Brief Tharrawaddy was born Maung Khin to Crown Prince T ...

. The rating for the finale was and the average nationwide rating for all episodes was

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

ranked the phrase "Plerng Phra Nang" as the fourth most searched term by

Thais Thais can be the plural of ''Thai'' and refer to: * The Thai people, the main ethnic group of Thailand * The Thai peoples or Tai peoples, the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia In the singular, Thais may refer to: People Ancien ...

in 2017, ranked second place in the category of television programs.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{in lang, th 2017 Thai television dramas Channel 7 HD (Thailand) television dramas Period television series Thai-language television dramas 1996 Thai television dramas 1990s Thai television dramas Channel 5 (Thailand) television dramas 2010s Thai television dramas