Srinagarindra
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Srinagarindra (Thai: ศรีนครินทรา) (born 21 October 1900, Thon Buri – died 18 July 1995, Bangkok) was the Princess Mother of Thailand.
Her given name was Sangwan (Thai: สังวาลย์). Her formal name and title were Somdej Phra Srinagarindra Boromarajajonani (Thai: สมเด็จพระศรีนครินทราบรมราชชนนี). In Thailand, the Princess Mother was affectionately called Somdet Ya (Thai: สมเด็จย่า), "the Royal Grandmother", and by the various hill tribe people, she was called Mae Fah Luang (Thai: แม่ฟ้าหลวง), "Royal Mother from the sky", or "the heavenly Royal Mother".
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[edit] Early life
She was born as a commoner to a goldsmith. By the time she was nine years old, both her parents had died. However before that, she was entered into the service of Princess Valaya Alongkorn, who was a daughter of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).
Sangwon was first educated at Anongkaram School and later at Satri Widhaya School, a well known girl's school in Bangkok. She studied and graduated in 1916 from the school of nursing at Siriraj Hospital. Through the help of the Royal scholarship, she went to study in the USA. She first went to the Emerson School in Berkeley, California, where she studied English, before continuing her studies at the Northwest School in Hartford, Connecticut, where she met and fell in love with Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkhla, son of King Chulalongkorn.
[edit] Marriage and family
In 1920, Prince Mahidol and the Princess returned to Bangkok and married. They had three children:
- Galyani Vadhana (born in 1923, in London, England);
- Ananda Mahidol (born 1925 in Heidelberg, Germany, became later King, Rama VIII);
- Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, later became King, Rama IX, and reigns today in Thailand).
The couple again returned to Thailand in 1928. However, after only about one year in Thailand, Prince Mahidol died. He was survived by his consort, who was 29 years old, and the three young children.
In 1935, King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) abdicated, and Prince Ananda Mahidol, then only ten years old, inherited the throne. After the mysterious death of King Ananda Mahidol, Bhumibol Adulyadej became ruler.
[edit] Royal duties
The Princess Mother was actively involved with numerous charitable activities, including assisting the Border Patrol Police, visiting disabled soldiers, the needy and congested community dwellers, and initiating volunteer doctor units to help the hilltribe people in the north. She formed the Volunteer Doctors Foundation to support the activities of the Volunteer Doctor Units. She gave donations to help build schools in remote areas, and invited others to help in the project. She also set up the Princess Mother's Fund to help support various other charities.
In her later years, Srinagarindra was strongly involved with projects to aid the hilltribe people in northern Thailand, especially around Doi Tung, Mae Fa Luang district, Chiang Rai Province.
In the middle of 1991, she apparently fell in her bedroom, after which her health never returned to normal. In November 1993, December 1994 and again in June 1995 she was admitted to the Siriraj Hospital for treatment. She died on 18 July 1995, at the age of 94.
[edit] Memorial
Her cremation ceremony, on March 10, 1996, was one of the biggest events Thailand has witnessed in modern times, attended by thousands of people and watched on television nationwide. Her ashes were afterwards enshrined in the Wat Ratchabophit temple in Bangkok. Srinagarindra was beloved and highly respected in Thailand as a person of integrity and good morals. In 1993, in remembrance of her, the king established The Princess Mother Memorial Park in Bangkok, which consists of gardens and a reproduction of her childhood home.
[edit] Notes
There is some confusion as to why the Princess Mother was never titled Queen Mother, considering that she was the mother of two kings. Since her husband was never king and only had the title of a prince, she never ascended as a queen-consort, and was therefore she was given the title “Princess Mother” by her son.
