King Bhumibol, whose name means “Strength of the Land”, was seen as a father figure in the country of 68 million. Formally known as Rama IX of the Chakri Dynasty, he was the last king to yield real power in a region where old, once-powerful monarchies – in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia – had long disappeared.

With 70 years on the throne, King Bhumibol is the only king the vast majority of Thais have ever known. The wide respect and reverence for him was largely due to state-sponsored ceremony and ritual, and the harsh lese majeste law which stifles critical debate on the royal family’s role – an issue increasingly underlying the political conflict of the last decade.

But the king also earned his popularity by travelling seemingly indefatigably throughout the country, especially in his younger days on the throne, speaking with people from all walks of life and starting thousands of projects to help the poor and marginalised.

(Read more: Princess Diana: Her Life In Pictures)

Under King Bhumibol, Thailand has grown from an essentially agricultural population surrounded by turmoil and war and beset with local insurgencies, to a middle-income country of 68 million with thriving export and tourism sectors, resilient enough to bounce back from crises like the Asian financial crash of 1997.

A keen musician and yachtsman in his youth, King Bhumibol’s interest in science led him to focus particularly on water management and irrigation projects. He patented a water wheel and a cloud-seeding rainmaking method – once demonstrating it for visiting Singaporean officials.

King Bhumibol had been the only real constant through Thailand’s political ups and downs. The King wielded his moral authority sparingly, taking care to stay above the political fray. In a rare interview in 1974, he said he found politics a “filthy business”.

(Read more: Talking To Kids About Life And Death)

The king’s pro-poor projects in the impoverished north and north-east, and his benevolent ”people’s King” image lifted his stature amongst the Thai public. His picture – sometimes with his dog sitting alongside him – hangs in almost every Thai household and establishment like that of an elderly family patriarch.

He was only 18 years old when he had to agree to become king, descending into a world of cut-throat political intrigue following the sudden death of his brother King Ananda Mahidol from a gunshot in his own bed in 1946. Despite his personal tragedy, King Bhumibol rebuilt the reputation and moral authority of the monarchy to probably its peak.

“The King is more than a ceremonial head. Thais are very clannish. First of all he is the head of the clan. He is the father of the very big family of Thais. And he is the source of Thai culture. Everything emanates from him. Good manners, way of living, the sort of thoughts and the way of thinking which is regarded as the best of Thai thinking,” said former Thai Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj.

(Read more: What’s Your Risk Of Getting A Heart Attack? See These 7 Signs)

For decades, King Bhumibol was the face of Thailand in the larger world, who transform Bangkok from a once swampy low-rise capital to a gleaming modern city and one of the world’s top tourism destinations, its gross domestic product many times more than that of its immediate neighbours’ combined GDP.

(Text by Nirmal Ghosh, Straits Times / Additional Reporting by Natalya Molok)