"In many ways, I should have been moved when some 300,000 people poured out on the streets of Bangkok in October for the days-long funeral of Thailand’s late King Bhumibol," writes Bangkok-based journalist Delphine Thouvenot.

"The sense of popular grief was palpable. People were crying. Many were prostrating themselves on the asphalt. When you have grown up with someone’s image everywhere, and with the idea that he is the 'father of the nation,' the deep sense of loss and emptiness at his death is perfectly understandable."

"But as a foreign journalist, I was well aware of the other side of the monarchy, which is  protected by one of the strictest lese-majeste laws in the world. People have landed in prison for posting an unflattering BBC portrait of a new king on Facebook, or posting comments deemed insulting to the late king’s dog (seriously)."