Thai King Turns 80

Thai people light the candles and sing songs honoring King Bhumibol Adulyadej on his 80th birthday celebration at the Royal Ground outside the Grand Palace, seen in the background, in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. Though he is a constitutional king with no formal political role, he is regarded as the lynchpin that holds the country together.

A man lights a giant candle to celebrate King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. Thailand's 65 million people celebrated their king's 80th birthday.

Two Thai women watch the fireworks near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, to celebrate the 80th birthday of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007.

Fireworks light up the sky at the Royal Ground in Bangkok, Thailand, to celebrate King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. The country's 65 million people celebrated the world's longest-reigning monarch with countrywide festivities amid concerns about his health and political instability.

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, left, accompanied by Queen Sirikit, center, and Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, wave to the cheering crowd from the balcony at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. Thailand celebrated Bhumibol's 80th birthday with festivities, prayers and a nationwide effort to wear yellow, the color that symbolizes devotion to the world's longest reigning monarch.

In a rare public appearance, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej waves to the cheering crowd from the balcony at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007, in celebration of his 80th birthday. It was only the sixth such appearance in his 61-year reign.

A Thai soldier provides security to a Buddhist monk during a ceremony to mark Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 80th birthday in Thailand's southern Narathiwat province, Dec. 5, 2007. More than 100,000 people lined the streets around Bangkok's glittering Grand Palace to cheer the revered monarch as he celebrated his 80th birthday.

A car carrying King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit passes honor guards before entering the Grand Palace for a ceremony celebrating the king's birthday in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. In a public address on Wednesday, the king he said was glad everyone had come together in unison to give him birthday wishes.

Thai people dressed in yellow wait and sit on the roadside for the motorcade of King Bhumibol Adulyadej to pass through during the ceremony celebrating the King's birthday in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. This year's celebration was clouded by nationwide anxiety over Bhumibol's declining health, his eventual successor and a chaotic political situation ahead of divisive elections later this month.

Thai people holding national and royal flags sit on the roadside as they wait to see their beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, under his giant portrait, near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007.

Buddhist monks receive alms and offerings from people during a ceremony to mark the Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 80th birthday in Thailand's southern Narathiwat province, Dec. 5, 2007.

Buddhist monks collect alms offering outside the Grand Palace part of the ceremony celebrating the King's birthday in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007.

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, left, waves back to people waving flags as Queen Sirikit looks on during the ceremony celebrating his birthday in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007.

Thai people offer alms to Buddhist monks next to a giant portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej outside the Grand Palace as part of birthday celebrations for the king in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007.

Holding national and royal flags, Thai people gather outside the Grand Palace for a ceremony celebrating the king's birthday in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. The king, born Dec. 5, 1927, in Cambridge, Mass., where his father was studying medicine, became the ninth king of the Chakri dynasty on June 9, 1946, succeeding his older brother Ananda, who died in an unexplained shooting.

Jai Sisom, an 86-year-old Thai man from northern Nakhon Sawan province waits next to a police officer to enter the Grand Palace to take part in a ceremony celebrating the king's birthday in Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007.

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