Mahidol Adulyadej

Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkhla ( Thai สมเด็จ ฯ เจ้าฟ้า มหิดล อดุลย เดช กรม หลวง สงขลา น ค ริน ทร RTGS: Somdet Chao Fa Luang Mahidon Adunyadet Kromma Songkhla Nakharin; * January 1, 1892 in Bangkok, † September 24, 1929 in Bangkok ), son of King Chulalongkorn ( Rama V ) and Queen Savang Vadhana, was the father of Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII ) and Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX. ), the reigning King of Thailand.

Early years

In his youth, Mahidol Adulyadej was first brought up 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 18 months at Harrow School before he moved to the cadet school of the Prussian Army and later to the Hauptkadettenanstalt large light field to Potsdam. At the request of his half brother, the King Vajiravudh (Rama VI. ), Prince Mahidol then went to the Imperial Naval Academy Mürwik, where he won a competition to design a submarine and others.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Prince Mahidol returned as a lieutenant back both the Imperial and the Royal Thai Navy to Thailand and initially took over the training of naval officers. After a dispute over the most appropriate orientation of the Thai Navy, where it essentially came to the optimal ship size for the Thai fleet, he left the Navy and attended henceforth to medical care and education in the country.

Medical activity

The Thai health system was located at the time of the First World War, far below Western standards and also not received much attention on the part of the king and the government. Founded by King Chulalongkorn Sirirat Hospital was too small and had too little money, and personnel available to improve the health of the population significantly. At the time of release of the Prince Mahidol of the Navy was his half-brother, Prince Rangsit Prayurasakdi, director of medical education. This tried Prince Mahidol to win to his cause, which is to raise the medical care of the population to western standards. After initial hesitation, agreed to Prince Mahidol, but he wanted to be trained first in a study.

Prince Mahidol studied Public Health at Harvard University. At his instance four more students were sent to Harvard, which should study medicine and nursing, including the 18 -year-old Sangwal Talabhat, the future wife of Prince Mahidol. In 1921, he completed his education and first went to Edinburgh, where he negotiated as a representative of Thailand with the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1923 he returned to the birth of his first daughter, Princess Galyani Vadhana, to Thailand and took over the post of Director-General of the Ministry of Education university questions. Addition, however, he also taught the Royal College of Medicine.

Later years

Due to his deteriorating health was Prince Mahidol in 1925 to Heidelberg to cure his kidney. Here is his first son, Prince Ananda Mahidol, later King Rama VIII, was born. Shortly afterwards, Prince Mahidol went back to Harvard, where he studied medicine. In Cambridge (Massachusetts ), the current King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX. ) Was born in 1927. After completing his Studiems Prince Mahidol returned to Thailand in December 1928.

There he worked for a short time at McCormick Hospital in Chiang Mai, before his health again deteriorated greatly. Prince Mahidol then returned to Bangkok and died on 24 September 1929 at Sapathum Palace.

Specializing in medicine, Mahidol University and the Prince of Songkla University are named after Prince Mahidol.