Since last year, the 33-year-old male elephant has been treated with reverence as a deity after being identified as the first auspicious white elephant to be discovered under the reign of King Rama X, as the monarch is also known.

The elephant is to be presented as a gift to the new king sometime after this weekend’s coronation ceremonies, the first the country will have seen in 69 years.

“There is no greater merit than to raise such an elephant for the king,” says Thanabadee Promsook, 35, who runs the center housing nine other regular elephants.

Thanabadee refers to the elephant as “His Highness” and kneels before him daily. “Plai” in Thai means male elephant.

Elephants classified as white in Thailand are not necessarily albino or solid white but are more pale in color than normal and are rare and especially revered.

They are regarded as a symbol of kingship and treated as deities, mainly due to the mythical white elephant Airavata, or Erawan as Thais call him, who is the vehicle of Indra, king of the Hindu gods.