Duke brings greetings from queen to King

Duke brings greetings from queen to King

His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej graciously granted an audience to His Royal Highness the Duke of York yesterday afternoon during which he received a congratulatory message from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

Published on December 8, 2007

The birthday greeting was sent on the occasion of HM the King's 80th birthday.

The full content of Her Majesty's letter is as follows:

"It gives me great pleasure to offer my warmest congratulations to Your Majesty as you celebrate your 80th birthday. I hope that Your Majesty has now recovered from your recent illness and will be able to fully enjoy the celebrations. I am sorry to hear that your sister HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana has also been unwell. I wish Your Majesty good health, longevity and happiness and send you my very best wishes for the continued happiness and prosperity of all. Elizabeth R."

HRH the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, is the second son of Queen Elizabeth II.

The prince was visiting Thailand Wednesday through Friday as a royal guest. He also attended the grand reception at Government House yesterday evening.

His Majesty the King is the world's longest-reigning monarch.

Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram said His Majesty had received birthday greetings from 30 heads of states and two international organisations.

Among them were Japan's Emperor Akihito, Brunei's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Malaysia's King Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, Pope Benedict XVI, US President George W Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin, India's president Pratibha Patil, and Singapore's President SR Nathan.

Nitya also disclosed that His Majesty was to grant an audience to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Monday.

Ban and his wife are scheduled to pay an official visit to Thailand tomorrow and Monday.

"This is going to be his first visit to an Asian country since he assumed the post of the UN secretary-general," Nitya said.

Ban succeeded Kofi Annan as UN secretary-general a year ago.

According to Nitya, Ban will also meet with Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont on Monday to discuss cooperation on activities including His Majesty's sufficiency economy philosophy, the UN's Millennium Development Goals and minimisation of climate-change impacts.

"The Burma issue is also likely to be on the agenda," Nitya said, "Thailand fully supports an approach that will lead Burma to democracy".

Following his visit to Thailand, Ban will attend the landmark United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali.

The Nation