ABSTRACT
As legacy to the privy council established by king Chulalongkorn, a five-member supreme state council was established in 1947. The constitution of 1949, which renamed it the King’s privy council, brought it to nine members (including the president); that of 1974, to 15; then that of 1991, to 19. On royal request, the privy council is the sole body able to draft amendments to the palatine law of 1924. Amendments must be ratified by the King and then communicated to the assembly by the president of the council. The increase in the duties of the crown since 1951 gradually repositioned the privy council, initially intended to assist the young King Bhumibol in the exercise of his functions, as proxy for the Sovereign: both ceremonial, in the proportion as the royal presence was required at an increasing number of the occasions.
