Bhumibol Adulyadej

Born in the United States in 1927 and raised in Switzerland after the 1932 revolution ended Thailand's absolute monarchy, Bhumibol ascended the throne in June 1946 at eighteen, succeeding his brother King Ananda Mahidol, who had died under mysterious circumstances. His reign spanned Thailand's rise as a major US ally and economic force - between 1985 and 1994 the country posted the world's fastest growth, spawning predictions it would become the next Asian Tiger and giving rise to an urban middle class and mass electoral participation. That trajectory broke with the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which triggered two decades of political instability marked by cycles of democratization and military intervention, culminating in the 2014 coup that returned the military to power. Forbes estimated his fortune at $30 billion in 2010, ranking him the world's richest royal for years, though the assets were held institutionally by the Crown Property Bureau. He died in 2016 after long illness, succeeded by his son Vajiralongkorn as Rama X.