Ananda Mahidol

King Ananda Mahidol or Rama VIII (long royal name: Phrabat Somdej Phra Paramenthara Maha Ananda Mahidol Phra Athama Ramathibodinthra พระบาทสมเด็จพระปรเมนทรมหาอานันทมหิดล พระอัฐมรามาธิบดินทร (roughly "HM King Ananda Mahidol, the Eighth Ruler") (September 20, 1925 - June 9, 1946) was the eighth king of the Chakri dynasty of Thailand.

Life as King

As the new King was still minor and was studying in Switzerland, the parliament appointed Colonel Prince Anuwatjaturong, Lieutenant Commander Prince Artit Thip-apa, and Chao Phraya Yommaraj (Pun Sukhum) as his regents.

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At age 13 he visited Thailand for the first time, together with his mother and his brother Bhumibol Adulyadej, but only after the end of World War II did he return, in December 1945, with a degree in Law, for a second visit. Despite his youth and inexperience he quickly won the support of the Thai people, who had continued to revere the monarchy through the upheavals of the 1930s and 1940s. One of the King's well-remembered activities was a highly successful visit to Bangkok's China Town (Yawaraj - เยาวราช), which was calculated to defuse the post-war tension between the Chinese and the Thais.

Related Topics:
Thailand - Bhumibol Adulyadej - World War II - December - 1945

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Foreign observers, however, believed that Ananda did not want to be King and that his reign would not last long. Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the British commander in South-East Asia, visited Bangkok in January 1946 and described the 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." At a public function, Mountbatten wrote, "his nervousness increased to such an alarming extent, that I came very close to support him in case he passed out."

Related Topics:
Earl Mountbatten of Burma - 1946

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