The Royal Society is the national academy of Thailand responsible for academic works of the Thai government. The secretariat of the society is the Office of the Royal Society, formerly known as the Royal Institute. The office is an independent agency of the executive branch of the Thai government and has the status of department under the supervision of the prime minister of Thailand. Members of the society consist of associate fellows, fellows, and honorary fellows. The associate fellows are academicians selected and appointed by the society. The fellows are associate fellows selected by the society and appointed by the monarchy of Thailand upon advice of the prime minister. The honorary fellows are prominent academicians selected by the society and appointed in the same way as the fellows. The society is known for its roles in the planning and regulation of the Thai language, as well as its many publications, particularly the Royal Institute Dictionary, the official and prescriptive dictionary of the Thai language, and the Royal Thai General System of Transcription, the official system for romanization of Thai.
History
Founded as Royal Society The Royal Society was established on 19 April 1926 by King Prajadhipok by combining the various existing agencies in charge of national libraries, national museums, literature works, engineering works, historical sites, and historical objects into one and the same agency for the reason that "Siam should have a learned society as in Western countries". The king named the society in Thai as Ratchabandittayasapha (literally, "Sabhā of Royal Pandits") after Krom Ratchabandit (literally, "Department of Royal Pandits"), an ancient government department in the Ministry of Public Instruction.
Reorgnised into Royal Institute After the Siamese revolution of 1932, the People's Party which carried out the revolution reorganised the Royal Society at the initiative of one of its members, Pridi Banomyong, by dissolving the Royal Society and splitting the works of the dissolved society into two new agencies, the Royal Institute and the Fine Arts Department, on 31 March 1934. The reasons for the reorganisation were stated by Luang Wichitwathakan, the first secretary general of the Royal Institute, as follows: "Our Royal Society had been in place since 2469 BE but it had not been structured to be what it should be. Instead of making the Royal Society a place for academic works like the present Royal Institute, the members of the Royal Society were loaded with administrative works, causing them to waste most of their time doing administrative works and have a little time for doing academic works. In addition, there had been no law or any other regulation requiring members of the Royal Society to do academic works." The reorganisation was designed after the Institut de France, dividing the Royal Institute into three academies: the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, the Academy of Sciences, and the Academy of Arts, which structure has been retained until the present. The Royal Institute was first convened on 16 June 1934, presided over by Phraya Phahonphonphayuhasena, the then prime minister of Siam who addressed the convention as follows: "Our Royal Institute is not a tool or device for promoting the dignity of any particular person, but it shall be for honouring the Nation and the constitutional administration. If there should be a name that should stay together with the Royal Institute, that shall not be the name of a person, but the name of the House of Representatives, the name of the Constitution. If there should be anything that people of later generation should think of together with the Royal Institute, that shall be the Constitution." At this convention, Prince Wan Waithayakon, Phra Riamwiratchaphak, and Luang Wichitwathakan were elected as the first president, vice president, and secretary general of the institute, respectively. The prominent works of the institute in the initial period include the revision of the official dictionary of Thai words, a work transferred from the Ministry of Public Instruction, as well as the production of Thai encyclopedias and gazetteers, the coinage of academic terms, and the creation of rules for romanisation of Thai.
Renamed back to Royal Society In 2013, the Council of the Royal Institute found it appropriate to honour King Prajadhipok on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of his birthday in 2015, by renaming the Royal Institute back to the Royal Society. To that effect, a law was introduced to and passed by the military-appointed National Legislative Assembly, which became the Royal Society Act, 2558 BE, effective on and from 14 February 2015. In addition to the renaming, the act turned the Council of the Royal Institute into the Royal Society itself and turned the Royal Institute into the secretariat of the society, called Office of the Royal Society. The act also increased the powers of the society, such as by authorising it to confer degrees and certificates, to establish a welfare fund for its members, and to retain income for its internal use without having to send the income to the finance ministry as national revenue. Many members of the society objected to the renaming because of lack of public hearing on the matter.
Headquarters The society was first located at Bang Khun Phrom Palace and later moved to the Vajiravudh Library on Na Phra That Road until 1988, when it moved to Ratchawanlop Building within the Grand Palace. In 2006, the society moved to Sanam Sueapa near the Royal Plaza. In 2024, the society moved again to its present headquarters within Building C of the Chaeng Watthana Government Complex.
Administration For administrative purposes, the society has four divisions:
Secretariat General Moral and Political Sciences Division Science Division Arts Division The society's website states that each division has a staff of civil servants and clerical employees who perform both business and academic functions facilitating the works of fellows and associate fellows as well as conducting and promoting various academic activities.
Members Scholars from the academic community of Thailand can apply for memberships in the society. Acceptance is based on applicants' contributions and published works. The levels of memberships in the society are:
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