![]() Any person could aspire to the highest official dignity but it was usual for the sons of those who had held high rank to be selected for preferment. ![]() There was no such thing as an hereditary nobility in the land, even the descendants of Majesty becoming merged in the people at the fifth generation, but those about the Court and officials of the Government, from the highest to the lowest grades, held titles by virtue of their offices and constituted a sort of aristocracy, from which, however, they could at any moment be expelled at the royal pleasure. While many kings, especially in the 19th century had several wives, only one was elevated to the rank of queen, and only the king's children with her were in line to ascend the throne. The palace law which was modified over the course of history, and today defines Thai nobility, especially the ranks and titles of the king's children and relatives, according to the status of their mothers. It dates back to King Rama Tibodi I, the founder of the Ayutthaya kingdom in 1358. Palace matters are regulated by the palace law known as Gotmontienboan. Typically, each following generation descended by one rank. Thai ranks of nobility were hereditary only to a certain extent. The advantages have been acquired mainly through inheritance from a long line of similarly privileged and cultivated ancestors. On the other is the privileged social class whose members possess disproportionately large shares of wealth, social prestige, educational attainment, and political influence. ![]() When reference is made to a Thai "aristocracy", a distinction must be drawn between two very different elements : on the one hand the members of the royal family, the close relatives of the king and princes of royal blood. Of the categories or strata discernible in modern Thai society, only one - the royal family and the hereditary nobility - constitute a self-conscious group.
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