After the Royal Household Bureau announced His Majesty’s passing at 7pm last night, Thai people, both in the real and in the virtual world, were overwhelmed with sadness as their worst fears came true.

Many changed their colour profile photos to black-and-white on Facebook and other social networks, in a simple expression of profound feelings of loss.

“#May I be your humble servant forever more” became the most widely used hashtag on Twitter in Thailand, with many Thais expressing their love and respect for their late beloved monarch by promising to be strong and to follow the King’s teachings.

Every second brought forth more expressions of grief in the cybersphere as netizens joined those in mourning across the country last night.