Thailand’s stock market, one of Asia’s worst-performing over the past 20 years, went into spasms last week on concerns about the health of 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej. So sensitive is the subject of the king, revered as a demi-god and protected by draconian lèse-majesté laws, that the finance minister merely referred to “rumours” disturbing the market, not saying about whom or what.

The rumours in question are that the king, who has languished in hospital for weeks, has had a serious health scare. Though the crisis appears to have passed for now, intimations of his mortality highlight the fact that, one day – perhaps sooner than later – Thais will have to prepare for succession.