In October 2017, Thailand had already spent a year in mourning. Civil servants were required to wear nothing but black, shop windows displayed only dark clothing, and television schedules had been stripped of most entertainment programmes, series and films. For an entire year, black and white had come to dominate the country, transforming the absence of colour into the defining visual language of official websites, clothing and broadcast media.

My Beloved King documents the final fifteen days of national mourning before the cremation of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, traditionally known as Rama IX. After a reign of seventy years, he died as the world’s longest-serving head of state, leaving behind a country united in an extraordinary public display of grief.