ABSTRACT
A T The Time of his father's death Chao Setthathirath was king of Lan. Na, but he probably lived in Chiang Saen, a town that he seems to have preferred to anywhere else. He had assumed that he would automatically be recognised as the successor to his father, but a faction in the Vang Na, the Oupahat's palace, favoured his two younger brothers, Chao Tha Heua, also known as Chao Voravongso, and Chao Lanchan, who was Governor of the important province of Pak Houei Luang, just south of Vientiane.
