Somdet Phra Narai (1633 - 11 July 1688) or Somdet Phra Ramathibodi III is the king of Ayutthaya from 1656 to 1688 and allegedly the most famous Ayutthayan king.
His reign is the most prosperous during the Ayutthaya period and sees the great commercial and diplomatic activities with foreign nations including the Persians and the West.
During the later years of his reign, Narai gives his favorite – the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon – so much power that Phaulkon technically becomes the chancellor of the state.
Through the arrangements of Phaulkon, the Siamese kingdom comes into close diplomatic relations with the court of Louis XIV and French soldiers and missionaries fill the Siamese aristocracy and defense.
The dominance of French officials leads to frictions between them and the native mandarins and led to the turbulent revolution of 1688 towards the end of his reign.
Narai’s reign is also known for a small war with England in 1687 and the invasion of Burmese Lanna in 1662.
Nevertheless, the presence of numerous foreigners from the French Jesuits to the Persian delegates has left historians with rich sources of material on the city of Ayutthaya and its courtly life in the seventeenth century that otherwise would not have survived the complete destruction of the capital in 1767.
