Mahidol Adulyadej

Mahidol Adulyadej in naval uniform (ca.1920)

Prince Mahidol Adulyadej , Prince of Songkhla ( Thai สมเด็จ ฯ เจ้าฟ้า มหิดล อดุลย เดช กรม หลวง สงขลา น ค ริน ทร RTGS : Somdet Chao Fa Mahidon Adunyadet Krommaluang Songkhla Nakharin; posthumously awarded title: สมเด็จ พระ มหิ ต ค อดุลย ราช เบ เบ ชนก Somdet Phra Mahittalathibet Adunyadetwikrom Phra Borommaratchachanok; * January 1, 1892 in Bangkok ; † September 24, 1929 in Bangkok) was a member of the Siamese (now Thai ) royal family, naval officer and doctor. He was the son of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and Queen Savang Vadhana and the father of the later kings Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) .

Early years

In his youth, Prince Mahidol Adulyadej was first educated in the court school of the Grand Palace . At the age of 13 he received the title of Prince of Songkhla . In the same year he was sent to London , where he was trained for 18 months at the Harrow School before he moved to Potsdam to the cadet institute of the Prussian army and later to the main cadet institute Groß-Lichterfelde . At the request of his half-brother, King Vajiravudh (Rama VI.), Mahidol joined the German Imperial Navy in 1912 as a midshipman (crew 1912), served on the training ship SMS Victoria Louise and then attended the Mürwik Naval School in Flensburg , where he a. a. won a competition to build a submarine .

Prince Mahidol

After receiving his officer license as a lieutenant at sea for both the Imperial and the Royal Siamese Navy, Mahidol returned at the outbreak of the First World War (in which Siam initially remained neutral, but froze its good relations with Germany before it even went to war in 1917 explained) back to Siam. There he was initially active in the training of naval officers. After a dispute about the most sensible direction of the Siamese Navy, which essentially concerned the optimal ship size for the Siamese fleet, he left the Navy in 1916 (with the rank of sea ​​captain ) and from then on took care of medical care and training in the country .

Medical activity

The Siamese health system was far below Western standards at the time of World War I, and it did not receive much attention from the king and government. The Siriraj Hospital founded by King Chulalongkorn was too small and lacked funds and staff to improve the health of the population significantly. At the time of his resignation from the Navy, Mahidol's older half-brother, Prince Rangsit Prayurasakdi (Prince of Chai Nat), was the head of medical training. He tried to win Mahidol for his project to raise the medical care of the population to Western standards. After initial hesitation, Mahidol agreed, but initially wanted to take up a degree.

Mahidol studied health sciences (Public Health) and the preparation course for medical studies (Pre-medical) at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1917 . At the instigation of the prince and his mother, four more students were sent to the United States to study medicine and nursing, including 18-year-old Sangwal Talabhat , his future wife. The two married in 1920, despite the royal family's policy that high-ranking princes should not marry commoners. But since Sangwal, as a maid of honor, had won the sympathy of the queen widow Savang Vadhana (Mahidol's mother) and Mahidol was not a likely candidate for the throne at the time, an exception was made and they received the blessing of the palace. Because of her ancestry, Mahidol's wife initially received only the relatively minor title of Mom Sangwal Mahidol na Ayutthaya .

In 1921 Mahidol graduated with a Certificate in Public Health (CPH). In the period that followed, he and his wife traveled through the USA, various countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia - partly for pleasure, partly to further their education and partly to perform official duties. Among other things, as a representative of Siam, he negotiated with the Rockefeller Foundation for support in the modernization and expansion of medical and nursing education in his country. His first daughter, Princess Galyani Vadhana , was born in 1923 while staying in London . A short time later they returned to Siam, where Mahidol took over the post of General Director for University Affairs in the Ministry of Education . At the same time he was head of the Royal Medical School (forerunner of today's Medical Faculty Siriraj Hospital of Mahidol University ), where from 1923 teaching was based on a renewed concept developed on his initiative and with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation. He himself taught pre-clinical students and taught biology and history at Chulalongkorn University . During this time, the completely inadequate buildings of the Siriraj Hospital were expanded or converted.

Late years

Statue of Prince Mahidol in front of the Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok

Due to the deterioration in his health (which some attribute to the widespread marriage of relatives in the royal family - his parents were half-siblings, several of his siblings died very early) Mahidol went to Heidelberg in 1925 to have his kidneys treated. His first son, Prince Ananda Mahidol , who later became King Rama VIII, was born here. A short time later Mahidol returned to Harvard, where he began studying medicine.

His son Bhumibol Adulyadej , who later became King Rama IX, was born in Cambridge (Massachusetts) in 1927 . In the USA, where there is no high nobility and corresponding titles, the prince was simply called "Mr. Mahidol Songkla ”. In the American birth certificate of the king, who died in 2016, based on the assumption that "Songkla" was a family name, "Baby Songkla" was temporarily entered because, according to dynastic tradition, the decision of the then king, Mahidol's half-brother Rama VII (Prajadhipok), had to be obtained. Mahidol received his MD degree cum laude in 1928 and was inducted into the Honor Society Alpha Omega Alpha . He then returned to Siam with his family in December 1928.

His desire as assistant doctor of pediatrics to work in Siriraj hospital, he did not prevail because such a low position was considered incompatible with his status Prince. It was completely unusual for members of the royal family to pursue a civil profession. To avoid conflict, he left the capital and worked at McCormick Hospital in Chiang Mai, which is run by Christian missionaries . When his health deteriorated again, Mahidol returned to Bangkok and died on September 24, 1929, at the age of 37, in Sa-Pathum Palace . Kidney failure was found to be the cause .

Mahidol University , which specializes in medicine, and Prince of Songkla University are named after Prince Mahidol. He is revered in Thailand as the "father of modern medicine and health care". The Prince Mahidol Prize is awarded annually by the royal family for special achievements in the field of medicine and health care.

Web links

Commons : Mahidol Adulyadej  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography of Prince Mahidol of Songkla on the pages of the Bangkok Post ( Memento from November 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (in English)
• Biography of Prince Mahidol and his work at Siriraj Hospital ( Memento of July 14, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) (in English)
• Foundation for the Prince Mahidol Prize (in English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Biography of His Royal Highness Prince Mahidol Adulyadej - English language website of the Prince of Songkla University
2. ↑ ^{a b} Rachawadi: Mahidol Day. In: Thaiways Magazine , Volume 21, No. 11, September 10, 2004.
3. ↑ ^{a b} The Prince Mahidol Award. In Frank W. Skilbeck (Ed.): Royal Activities and International Cooperation. National Identity Foundation, Bangkok 2011, p. 264.
4. ^ ^{A b c} Paul M. Handley: The King Never Smiles. A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej. Yale University Press, New Haven CT 2006, ISBN 0-300-10682-3 , p. 13.
5. ^ The Prince Mahidol Award. 2011, p. 265.
6. ↑ Education ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Siriraj Hospital Medical Faculty website, Mahidol University
7. ^ The Prince Mahidol Award. 2011, p. 266.
8. ↑ Nicholas Grossman, Dominic Faulder (ed.): King Bhumibol Adulyadej - A Life's Work. Thailand's Monarchy in Perspective. Editions Didier Millet, Singapore 2012, p. 47.
9. ↑ Grossman, Faulder: King Bhumibol Adulyadej - A Life's Work. 2012, p. 61.
10. ↑ Grossman, Faulder: King Bhumibol Adulyadej - A Life's Work. 2012, p. 62.
11. ↑ Debhanom Muangman: Prince Mahidol - Father of Public Health and ModernMedicine in Thailand. In: Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health , Volume 1, No. 4, 1987, pp. 72-75.