Srinagarindra
Princess mother Srinagarindra (other spellings Sri Nakarindra , Sinakharinthra ; Thai สมเด็จ พระ ศรี น ค ริน ทราบ รม ราช ชนนี ; * October 21, 1900 in Thonburi , Thailand ; † July 18, 1995 in Bangkok ) was the mother of kings Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII .) and Bhumibol Adulyadej .
Surname
The maiden name of the future princess mother was Sangwal ( สังวาล ย์ , surnames were not yet introduced in Siam at the time ). Her marriage to Prince Mahidol made her mom Sangwal Mahidol na Ayutthaya. After her son Ananda became king in 1935, she was given the title "Princess Mother Sri Sangwal". In 1970, her second son, King Bhumibol, gave her the title Somdet Phra Srinagarindra Borommaratchachonnani ( สมเด็จ พระ ศรี น คริน ทราบ รมราช ชนนี , pronunciation: [sǒmdèt pʰrá sǐːnakʰarintʰraː bɔːrommáʔ râːttɕʰáʔtar͡ɕʰonnáʔni) , "Princess Mother of the Queen Srindrani ". In the country she was affectionately called Somdet Ya ( สมเด็จ ย่า , "Royal Grandmother"). She was known as Mae Fa Luang ( แม่ ฟ้า หลวง , "Royal Mother from Heaven") among the mountain peoples who settled in Thailand , whose concerns she took special care of .
Life
Early life
Sangwal was born in Thonburi as the daughter of a goldsmith of Chinese origin who was married to a Thai. Both parents died before the age of ten, but she was spared an orphan fate because she had previously been accepted into the service of Princess Valaya Alongkorn , a daughter of King Chulalongkorn (ruled 1868 to 1910).
Sangwal was taught first at the Anongkaram School and later at the well-known Bangkok girls' school Satri Withaya. She graduated from the Sirat Hospital Nursing School in Bangkok in 1916 with a degree in nursing . With a royal scholarship , she was then able to study in the USA.
She first learned the English language at Emerson School in Berkeley , California , before taking up actual classes at Northwest School in Hartford , Connecticut . Here she met and fell in love with Prince Mahidol Adulyadej , Prince of Songkhla , who was a son of the late King Chulalongkorn and studied public health at Harvard University .
Marriage and family
Prince Mahidol and Sangwal returned to Bangkok in 1920, where they married with the consent of the royal family. Sangwal was given the title of mom , which is intended for a commoner who marries a senior member of the royal family. The couple had three children:
- Galyani Vadhana (* 1923 in London, † 2008 in Bangkok)
- Ananda Mahidol (* 1925 in Heidelberg, † 1946 in Bangkok)
- Bhumibol Adulyadej (* 1927 in Cambridge (Massachusetts), † 2016 in Bangkok)
The couple returned to Thailand in 1928, where Prince Mahidol died within a year.
When King Prajadhipok abdicated in 1935 , Ananda Mahidol was elected heir to the throne at the age of 9. After his death, which took place under circumstances that have not yet been fully explained, Bhumibol Adulyadej became king of Thailand.
Duties in the royal house
Right from the start, the princess mother was primarily responsible for charitable work. This included helping the border police , visiting the disabled , the poor and the sick, and establishing medical care for the hill tribes in northern Thailand . To this end, she initiated the Volunteer Doctors Foundation , which supports local doctors who work on a voluntary basis. She ensured that schools were set up in inaccessible areas of the north and activated helpers and supporters. In addition, she formed the Princess Mother's Fund (today: " Mae Fah Luang Foundation Under Royal Patronage") to support many other charitable projects.
In her later years she was particularly active in the area of Doi Tung , Mae Fa Luang , Chiang Rai . She fell to the floor in her bedroom in mid-1991 and has never recovered to full health since. In November 1993, December 1994, and again in June 1995, she had to be treated at Siriraj Hospital .
Srinagarindra died on July 18, 1995 at the age of 94 in Bangkok.
funeral
The cremation , customary according to Buddhist tradition, took place on March 1, 1996 and was one of the greatest events in contemporary Thailand. Thousands of people were eyewitnesses and millions watched the ceremony live on television. The ashes of the king's mother were then kept in Wat Ratchabopit in Bangkok.
effect
The Princess Mother Memorial Park near Wat Anongkharam , in the Khlong San district of Bangkok, is dedicated to the memory of Mae Fa Luang and consists of extensive gardens and a reproduction of the house of her childhood.
The Royal Villa in Doi Tung, Mae Fa Luang District , Chiang Rai Province, has been converted into a museum that thousands of Thais visit every year.
According to the Princess Mother, the Si-Nakharin Dam and the surrounding Khuean-Si-Nakharin National Park in Kanchanaburi Province, Mae Fah Luang University and Chiang Rai Airport , the districts (Amphoe) Srinagarindra in Phatthalung and Mae Province Fa Luang in Chiang Rai, Srinagarindra Road in the east and Borommaratchachonnani Road in the west of Bangkok, the Boromarajonani Nursing Schools in Bangkok and several provinces, the University Hospital of Khon Kaen University and a variety of other government institutions.
Web links
- Biography of the Princess Mother ( memento of April 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (in English)
- Mae Fa Luang Foundation website (in English, last accessed April 1, 2014)
- BBC documentary ( The Royal Court of Thailand , 1998) of the cremation and a look back at the life of the Queen Mother
Individual evidence
- ^ Paul M. Handley: The King Never Smiles . Yale Univ. Pr. 2006. ISBN 978-0-300-10682-4 . P. 13
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Srinagarindra |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sinakharinthra, Si Nakharinthra, Sri Nakarindra; Princess Mother Srinagarindra, Somdet Phra Srinagarindra Borommaratchachonnani; Sangwal Talabhat; Mom Sangwal Mahidol na Ayutthaya; Princess Mother Sri Sangwal, Somdet Si Sangwal Borommaratchachonnani; Somdet Ya; Mae Fa Luang |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Thai nobles, mother of kings Ananda Mahidol and Bhumibol Adulyadej |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 21, 1900 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Thonburi |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 18, 1995 |
| Place of death | Bangkok |