The lavish cremation of late Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej is underway in Bangkok with 7000 guests in attendance.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn, Bhumibol's only son, presided over the ceremony at a 80,000-square-metre complex in Bangkok built specifically for Bhumibol's cremation.
The guests - including royal family members, senior government officials and foreign dignitaries from 42 countries including Australia's Governor General Peter Cosgrove.
They were witnessing a symbolic cremation expected to last four and a half hours before the real cremation takes place late at night, in accordance with a Buddhist tradition.
Among the notable delegates are Prince Andrew of Britain, US Secretary of Defence James Mattis, former German president Christian Wulff and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
There is no burning at the symbolic cremation; instead the ceremony mainly involves Buddhist monks chanting and laying paper sandalwood flowers at the crematorium as tributes.
The crematorium is situated at the centre of the complex, comprising nine golden pavilions, with the 58-metre-high funeral pyre where the late king's body is be set ablaze in an incinerator at the centre.
This is no ordinary funeral pyre, as the crematorium was built to symbolise Mount Meru, a mythical mountain considered as the centre of the universe in Hindu cosmology.
Thai kings are deemed reincarnations of Vishnu, a Hindu God. To simulate Bhumibol's ascent to heaven as a deity, hundreds of sculptures of Hindu gods, angels, mythical creatures and animals were neatly moulded and painted to adorn the mythical mountain where the late king will rest.
Earlier in the day, Vajiralongkorn led thousands of people in an elaborate procession through Bangkok.
The grand procession involving thousands of soldiers in different types of colourful traditional costumes, royal family members, government officials and volunteers lasted more than four hours.
Gun salutes and traditional Thai music played by an orchestra sent off Bhumibol's symbolic urn from the Grand Palace in a succession of processions to the cremation site.
In contrast to the all-black clothing of up to 110,000 mourners lining the nearly 2km procession route, the massive cortege had an array of colours: red, orange, blue, dark blue, yellow, black, and white.
