Srinagarindra

Princess Mother Srinagarindra ( other spellings Sri Nakarindra, Sinakharinthra; Thai สมเด็จ พระ ศรี น ค ริน ทราบ รม ราช ชนนี; born October 21, 1900 in Thonburi, Thailand, † July 18, 1995 in Bangkok ) was the mother of King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII. ) and Bhumibol Adulyadej, the reigning king of Thailand since 1946.

Name

The birth name of the later Princess Mother was Sangwal ( สังวาล ย์, surname at the time were not yet introduced in Siam). Through her marriage to Prince Mahidol was Mom Sangwal Mahidol na Ayuthaya. After her son Ananda in 1935 the king, she was given the title "Princess Mother Sri Sangwal ". 1970 awarded her second son, King Bhumibol her the title Somdet Phra Srinagarindra Boromma Ratchachonnani ( สมเด็จ พระ ศรี น ค ริน ทราบ รม ราช ชนนี, pronunciation: [ sǒmdèt p ʰ rá sǐ ː nak ʰ ARINT ʰ ra ː bɔ ː rommáʔ râ ː ttɕ ʰ áʔt͡ɕ ʰ onnáʔni ː ], " Her Royal Highness Princess Mother Srinagarindra "). In the country it has been lovingly Somdet Ya ( สมเด็จ ย่า, "Royal grandmother " ) called. The settled in Thailand hill tribe people, their concerns they particularly took, she was as Mae Fa Luang ( แม่ ฟ้า หลวง, "Royal Mother from heaven " ) known.

Life

Early life

Sangwal was born in Thonburi as the daughter of a Chinese -born goldsmith, who was married to a Thai. Both parents died before their tenth year, but remained an orphanage her fate spared because they had previously been taken into the service of Princess Valaya Along grain, a daughter of King Chulalongkorn (r. 1868-1910 ).

Sangwal was first taught at the Anongkaram School and later at the famous Bangkok's Girls' School Satri Withaya. She received her degree in nursing in 1916 from the School of Nursing of the Sirat Hospital in Bangkok. With a royal scholarship she could then study in the U.S..

At the Emerson School in Berkeley, California, she first learned the English language before they took up the actual teaching at the Northwest School in Hartford, Connecticut. Here she met Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkhla to know and love, which was the son of the late King Chulalongkorn and Public Health at Harvard University studied.

Marriage and family

Prince Mahidol and Sangwal 1920 returned back to Bangkok, where they were married with the consent of the royal family. Sangwal received 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 ( born 1925 in Heidelberg, † 1946 in Bangkok )
• Bhumibol Adulyadej (* 1927 in Cambridge (Massachusetts), the current King of Thailand)

The couple returned back to Thailand in 1928, where Prince Mahidol died within a year.

When in 1935 King Prajadhipok abdicated, Ananda Mahidol was - chosen as heir to the throne - at the age of 10 years. After his death, which took place under circumstances not yet fully enlightened, was King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand.

Duties in the royal house

The Princess Mother had above all preserving charitable tasks from the beginning. This included help with the border police, visits to the disabled, the poor and sick, as well as building a health care to the hill tribes in Northern Thailand. To this end, they initiated the Volunteer Doctors Foundation, local, working on reiwilliger based physicians supported. She cared for the construction of schools in inaccessible areas of the north and activated helper and supporter. In addition, she was the Princess Mother 's Fund (now " Mae Fah Luang Foundation Under Royal Patronage " ) to promote many other charitable projects.

In her later years she was especially in the area of Doi Tung, Mae Fa Luang, Chiang Rai operates. Mid-1991, she fell into her bedroom to the ground and never recovered since then to full health. In November 1993, December 1994 and again in June 1995, she had to be treated in Siriraj Hospital. Srinagarindra died on 18 July 1995 at the age of 94 years in Bangkok.

Funeral

The usual according to Buddhist tradition, cremation took place on 1 March 1996 and was one of the biggest events of contemporary Thailand. Thousands of people were witness and millions were able to watch the ceremony live on television. The ashes of the king's mother was subsequently held at Wat Ratchabopit in Bangkok.

Effect

The Princess Mother Memorial Park near the Wat Anongkharam, in the district of Khlong San 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 at Doi Tung, Amphoe Mae Fa Luang, Chiang Rai province, has been converted into a museum, where every year many thousands of Thais come.

After the Princess Mother, the Si Nakharin Dam and the surrounding location Khuean -Si Nakharin National Park in Kanchanaburi province, the Mae Fah Luang University and the Chiang Rai airport, the districts ( Amphoe ) Srinagarindra are in Phatthalung Province and Mae named Fa Luang in Chiang Rai, the Srinagarindra road in the east of Bangkok, the University Hospital of the University of Khon Kaen, and a variety of other public facilities