by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2019
King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand; Credit – Wikipedia
Known for being found shot dead in his bed under mysterious circumstances, King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand was born on September 20, 1925, in Heidelberg, Germany where his parents were studying at Heidelberg University at the time of his birth. He was the second of the three children and the elder of the two sons of Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and Princess Srinagarindra, born Sangwan Talapat. Prince Mahidol Adulyadej was the son of King Chulalongkorn and Sri Savarindira, a consort and half-sister of King Chulalongkorn. King Chulalongkorn had 92 consorts during his lifetime and had 77 surviving children.
King Ananda Mahidol had two siblings:
- Princess Galyani Vadhana (1923 – 2008), married (1) Colonel Aram Rattanakul Serireongrit, had one daughter, divorced (2) Prince Varananda Dhavaj, no children
- King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand (1927 – 2016), married Sirikit Kitiyakara, had one son and three daughters
Ananda Mahidol on the left, with his mother and siblings; Credit – Wikipedia
In 1928, Ananda Mahidol’s family returned to Thailand after his father received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. On September 24, 1929, King Ananda Mahidol’s father Prince Mahidol Adulyadej died of kidney failure at the age of 37. The prince did much to improve medicine and public health in Thailand and is considered the father of modern medicine and public health in Thailand. Ananda Mahidol began his early education at Mater Dei School in Bangkok, Thailand. In 1933, he moved to Switzerland along with his mother and siblings where he attended Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande in Lausanne, Switzerland.
In 1935, King Prajadhipok of Thailand, one of Ananda Mahidol’s many uncles abdicated due to political issues and health problems. He decided not to name a successor to the throne. Instead, the Cabinet, with the approval of the National Assembly, used the 1924 Palace Law of Succession and named nine-year-old Ananda Mahidol King of Thailand. Because the new king was a child and attending school in Switzerland, three regents were appointed to take over the duties of the young king.
King Ananda Mahidol in 1938; Credit – Wikipedia
In 1938, accompanied by his mother and his siblings, Ananda Mahidol returned to Thailand for the first time as its king. He spent two months in Thailand and returned to Switzerland to resume his studies.
King Ananda Mahidol (left) and his brother Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej (right) inspecting a model train in 1938. Their mother and sister are in the background; Credit – Wikipedia
In December 1941, during World War II, Japan occupied Thailand. King Ananda Mahidol was studying in Switzerland and remained there until the end of World War II. He returned to Thailand in December 1945 after receiving a law degree from the University of Lausanne. King Ananda Mahidol intended to return to the University of Lausanne to obtain a Ph.D. in law. He then planned to return permanently to Thailand and have his coronation.
King Ananda Mahidol and Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma in 1946; Credit – Wikipedia
It was noted at the time that Ananda Mahidol did not want to be king and felt his reign would not last long. In January 1946, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the British commander in Southeast Asia, visited Ananda Mahidol in Bangkok. Lord Mountbatten described the young king as “a frightened, short-sighted boy, his sloping shoulders and thin chest behung with gorgeous diamond-studded decorations, altogether a pathetic and lonely figure.” After attending a public function with King Ananda Mahidol, Lord Mountbatten observed, “His nervousness increased to such an alarming extent, that I came very close to support him in case he passed out”.
Boromphiman Throne Hall in the Grand Palace. The king’s bedroom was on the upper floor; Credit – By Sodacan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8958144
On June 9, 1946, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol was found shot to death in his bed in the Boromphiman Throne Hall, a residential palace located in the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. He died from a single gunshot wound to the forehead. King Ananda Mahidol was scheduled to return to the University of Lausanne in Switzerland four days later. He was succeeded by his 18-year-old brother Bhumibol Adulyadej who reigned for seventy years. King Ananda Mahidol’s funeral did not occur until four years later when King Bhumibol Adulyadej completed his education in Switzerland and returned permanently to Thailand. King Ananda Mahidol’s ashes are enshrined in the base of the Buddha statue at Wat Suthat in Bangkok, Thailand.
King Ananda Mahidol’s ashes are enshrined in the base of the Buddha; Credit – www.findagave,com
Although three people were tried and executed for King Ananda Mahidol’s supposed assassination, the circumstances of his death have never been fully explained and his death is still seen as a mystery. King Ananda Mahidol’s secretary Chaliao Pathumros and his chamberlains Chit Singhaseni and Butsat Patmasarin were arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder the king. After a very long trial, the court ruled that King Ananda Mahidol had been assassinated but that there was no proof that any of the three had killed the king. However, Chit Singhaseni was found guilty of being a party to the murder.
Chit Singhaseni appealed his conviction and the prosecution appealed the acquittal of Chaliao Pathumros and Butsat Patmasarin. After fifteen months of deliberation, the Appeals Court dismissed Chit Singhaseni’s appeal and found Butsat Patmasarin guilty. They appealed to the Supreme Court which deliberated for ten months before upholding both convictions and also finding Chaliao Pathumro guilty. All three were executed on February 17, 1955. King Bhumibol Adulyadej later said that he did not believe they were guilty.
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Works Cited
- En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Ananda Mahidol. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Mahidol [Accessed 2 Dec. 2019].
- Flantzer, Susan. (2014). King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-bhumibol-adulyadej-of-thailand/ [Accessed 2 Dec. 2019].
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- Th.wikipedia.org. (2019). การสวรรคตของพระบาทสมเด็จพระปรเมนทรมหาอานันทมหิดล – วิกิพีเดีย. [online] Available at: https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%82%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%94%E0%B9%87%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%A5 [Accessed 2 Dec. 2019]. (Thai Wikipedia – Death of King Ananda Mahidol)