3. Thong Lan reigned as King of Ayutthaya, ascending to the throne before being violently murdered just seven days later by Ramesuan, the monarch his father had deposed decades earlier
Thong Lan, son of Borommarachathirat I and a member of the House of Suphannaphum, was King of Ayutthaya, an ancient kingdom of modern-day Thailand. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya was jointly founded by the royal houses of Uthong and Suphannaphum, who were related by marriage, during the mid-14th century. Positions in the emerging kingdom were distributed among the two family’s members, with Boromrachathirat I, a relative of the first reigning Ayutthaya monarch Ramathibodi I, named ruler of Suphan Buri.
Upon the death of Ramathibodi I in either 1369 or 1370 CE, his son Ramesuan, of the House of Uthong, sought to claim the throne. A year later, Borommarachathirat I rallied an army and marched on the capital, whereupon Ramesuan generously “presented” the throne to Borommarachathirat. Succeeding his father as King of Ayutthaya at the age of 15 in either 1388 or 1389 after the former died from an illness contracted during a military campaign against Chakangrao, Thong Lan reigned for only seven days before being deposed in a coup led by Ramesuan. Ramesuan, after decades of patient waiting, exacted his revenge, murdering Thong Lan at the Buddhist temple “Wat Khok Phraya” by breaking his neck with a Sandalwood club – a traditional south Asia method of regicide – and making him the first monarch of Ayutthaya to be executed.