Chakri dynasty

The Chakri dynasty, unofficially the House of Chakri, is the current reigning dynasty of the Kingdom of Thailand. The head of the house is the king, who is head of state. The family has ruled Thailand since the founding of the Rattanakosin era and the city of Bangkok in 1782; following the end of Taksin's reign, when the capital of Siam shifted to Bangkok. The dynasty was founded by Rama I, a former military leader of the Thonburi Kingdom who came from the old Ayutthaya elite.

Prior to his accession to the throne, Rama I held for years the title Chakri, the civil chancellor. In founding the dynasty, the king himself chose "Chakri" as the name for it. The emblem of the house is composed of the discus (Chakra) and the trident (Trishula), the celestial weapons of the gods Vishnu and Shiva, of whom the Thai sovereign is seen as an incarnation.

In terms of lineage, King Rama IV stated in his royal correspondence that the ancestry of the Chakri dynasty was not purely Thai but of mixed Mon and Chinese descent. According to historian Edward van Roy, Kosa Pan was the son of Phraya Kiat, a Mon noble who supported Naresuan during the fourth Burmese–Siamese War, and , said to be a daughter of King Ekathotsarot and the wet nurse of Phetracha and Prince Narai, both future kings of Siam. Through his son Khunthong, Kosa Pan was a great-great-grandfather of King Rama I, the founder of the Chakri dynasty. His elder brother, Lek, held the post of foreign minister before him. Somdet Phra Pathom Boromma Mahachanok (Thongdee), meanwhile, was the father of King Phutthayotfa Chulalok. Some theories further propose that the dynasty may descend from King Naresuan the Great of Ayutthaya, which if correct would link it by blood to the Phra Ruang dynasty of the Sukhothai.

The current head of the house is Vajiralongkorn who was proclaimed king on 1 December 2016, but has reigned with retroactive effect since 13 October 2016 after the death of his father Bhumibol Adulyadej. The house's current seat is the Grand Palace. On Saturday, 4 May 2019, the coronation of Vajiralongkorn, with the traditional ceremony, occurred in Bangkok.