In the King and I, and Anna and the King, why do the king's children wear the "top knot?"?

Question

In the King and I, and Anna and the King, why do the king's children wear the "top knot?"?

Answer 1

Was it not just the males?

Answer 2

Anna Owen wrote a wonderful fairy tale. Nothing in it was correct, not even her name or the fact she did not have a son. Her husband's middle name was Lee and she was not Leeowen . All things are possible through the magic of Holly wood

Answer 3

The top-knot was a Siamese custom that designated that the person was a child.  The shaving of the top-knot (or tonsure) was a very big ceremony, and denoted the passage from childhood to adolescence.  The custom has fallen out of use in the majority of Thailand, except for some remote areas.

Answer 4

correction to that statement that the custom has fallen out of use. My teacher in Kon Khean had the topknot when he was a child, as did his children, and now, his grandchildren. All of the ancient Thai traditions are carefully observed by many in the North of Thailand, including amulets and clothing. I myself wear an amulet which is made from the cremains of a great bhikku (monk), and have certain relics which are created and consecrated by the old ways. The topknot is still a part of many Northern tribes and traditional communities all over Muangtai (what the Siamese call their country) Thailand is a name created in THIS century to please the western interests who had, and still have, unhealthy influence over the culture.