[superfluid]

Sure, just like the rest of the commoners - except for vast wealth (King's wealth est. at $30 billion in 2011, by Forbes) - and except for some hilarious and ridiculous lese majeste laws that they love to enforce:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se_majest%C3%A9_in_Thai...

(also mentioned by ddeck here)

[dhimes]

Indeed. I did some sailboat cruising there this past February and it is a fabulous place (at least the coast is). As I met and talked to the locals I was surprised at how much people loved their king. When I would ask if their king was fair or their government responsive, not only would they answer positively but their faces would light up. They seemed to be genuinely happy with their government.

Then I found out about these laws. I'm no terrific judge of phoniness, but it seems to me that they are either well practiced at these responses or they are pretty happy with things.

[malnourish]

My SO spent a decent amount of time studying in Chiang Mai (she was in Bangkok at the start of the most recent coup), but take this with a a healthy amount of skepticism.

She said many of the Thai people she met wouldn't say negative things about the government (and especially the king) out of fear, likely due to lèse majesté laws.

She said she also noticed strong peer pressure to maintain that status quo. You don't want your neighbor thinking you don't love the king do you?

[superfluid]

I have no doubt that many or most do actually love their former king.

The problem is that it's probably not well-founded, given the laws you mentioned ensure virtually all media coverage of the king & royals is never less than glowing.

(Analogy coming to mind is North Koreans shedding true tears for their former leader.)