Moviegoers told to stand up to respect king during Thai anthem

The Prime Minister exhorted moviegoers not to abandon a decades-old tradition of standing en masse to respect the country’s powerful king during the royal anthem that is played before every film.

The comments came as King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 69, was reportedly in Germany on his first documented trip abroad since pro-democracy protests last year morphed into once-unthinkable open criticism of the monarchy, including questioning his prolonged absences from Thailand.