Prajadhipok, also known as Rama VII (8 November 1893 – 30 May 1941) was the seventh monarch of the Chakri dynasty and the last king of Siam under the absolute monarchy. He ascended the throne in 1925 and reigned until his abdication in 1935 during his self-imposed exile following his fallout with the new democratic government after the 1932 Siamese Revolution, which brought an end to the country’s absolute monarchy.

Born during the reign of King Chulalongkorn, Prajadhipok was the youngest son of Chulalongkorn and Queen Saovabha Phongsri. He succeeded his brother, King Vajiravudh, and pursued significant reforms, including establishing the Privy Council, modernizing financial and public-utility regulations, advancing municipal administration, founding the National Library, expanding university education, establishing the Royal Institute, and commissioning the complete Thai-script edition of the Tripitaka. However, his rule was also marked by weak political leadership and turbulent economy due to the Great Depression, leading to the revolution in 1932. After a failed royalist reactionary revolt in 1933, he went into a self-imposed exile in Britain and later abdicated.

Following his abdication, Prajadhipok and Queen Rambai Barni settled in England and never returned to Siam. As he left no heirs, the cabinet and parliament invited his young nephew Prince Ananda Mahidol to become king at age nine, marking the rise of the Mahidol branch. After Ananda's death in 1946, his brother Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) succeeded him.

UNESCO has acknowledged the historical importance of documents and artifacts related to King Prajadhipok's reign. His personal collection of photographs and films documented Siam's transition. Additionally, "The Minute Books of the Council of State of Siam (1893–1932)", which include records from his time, are listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. UNESCO has also recognized him as a "great personality" in commemorations.

Early life

left|160px|thumb|Young Prajadhipok and his mother, [[Saovabha Phongsri]]

Prajadhipok was born on 8 November 1893 in Bangkok, Siam (now Thailand) to King Chulalongkorn and Queen Saovabha Phongsri. Prince Prajadhipok was the youngest of nine children born to the couple. Overall he was the king's second-youngest child (of a total of 77), and the 33rd and youngest of Chulalongkorn's sons.

Unlikely to succeed to the throne, Prince Prajadhipok chose to pursue a military career. Like many of the king's children, he was sent abroad to study, going to Eton College in 1906, then to the Woolwich Military Academy from which he graduated in 1913. He received a commission in the Royal Horse Artillery in the British Army based in Aldershot. In 1910 Chulalongkorn died and was succeeded by Prajadhipok's older brother (also a son of Queen Saovabha), Crown Prince Vajiravudh, who became King Rama VI. Prince Prajadhipok was by then commissioned in both the British Army and the Royal Siamese Army. With the outbreak of the First World War and the declaration of Siamese neutrality, King Vajiravudh ordered his younger brother to resign his British commission and return to Siam immediately, a great embarrassment to the prince, who wanted to serve with his men on the Western front. Once home, Prajadhipok became a high-ranking military official in Siam. In 1917 he was ordained temporarily as a monk, However, he had inherited serious political and economic problems from his predecessor. Gradually these princes arrogated power to themselves, monopolising all the main ministerial positions and appointing their sons and brothers to both administrative and military posts. By April 1926 almost the entire cabinet of ministry heads had been replaced with newly appointed Princes or nobles, with only three former members being re-appointed. Unlike his predecessor, the king read virtually all state papers that came his way, from ministerial submissions to petitions by citizens. Information was obtained regarding local self-government in surrounding countries, and proposals to allow certain municipalities to raise local taxes and manage their own budgets were drawn up. The fact that the public was not sufficiently educated to make the scheme work militated against the success of this administrative venture. Nevertheless, the idea of teaching the Siamese the concept of democracy through a measure of decentralisation of power in municipalities had become, in Prajadhipok's mind, fundamental to future policy-making. However, Yasukichi Yatabe, Japanese minister to Siam, criticized the king's way and that it would not be accomplished in a hundred years' time.

thumb|State visit of Rama VII to Japan, at [[Kōtoku-in, 1931]]

In September 1931 Britain abandoned the gold standard and devalued sterling by 30 percent.

Revolution of 1932

thumb|A [[Khana Ratsadon meeting in Ananta Samakhom]]

A small group of soldiers and civil servants began secretly plotting to overthrow absolute monarchy and bring a constitutional government to the kingdom. Their efforts culminated in an almost bloodless "revolution" on the morning of 24 June 1932 by the self-proclaimed Khana Ratsadon (People's Party; คณะราษฎร). It was a significant gesture because, according to previous royal rituals, monarchs were to remain seated while their subjects made obeisance, this showed that Prajadhipok was acknowledging the changed circumstances.]]

In the early stages of the constitutional monarchy, the King and the royalists seemed to be able to compromise with Khana Ratsadon. The constitutional bill which was drafted by Pridi Banomyong and intended to be a permanent one was made temporary. The new constitution restored some of the monarch's lost power and status. Among them were introduction of unelected half of the House of Representatives and royal veto power. The country's first prime minister Phraya Manopakorn Nitithada was a conservative and royalist nobleman.

The compromise broke down quickly. He did not contest when his interpretation of Pridi's economic plan, which also aim on land reform and seizure of royal land, was released with his signature. The king played a role in the coup d'état of April 1933, where the House was ordered to close by the prime minister. He signed an order to execute Khana Ratsadon leaders. But Khana Ratsadon's military wing leader Phraya Phahonphonphayuhasena ousted the government and restored its power.

He played an active role in an anti-revolutionary network, which also aimed to assassinate Khana Ratsadon's leaders. The insurrection diminished the king's prestige. When the revolt began, Prajadhipok immediately informed the government that he regretted the strife and civil disturbances. The royal couple then took refuge at Songkhla, in the far south. The king's withdrawal from the scene was interpreted by the Khana Ratsadorn as a failure to do his duty. By not throwing his full support behind government forces, he had undermined their trust in him. He led a peaceful life there, gardening in the morning and writing his autobiography in the afternoon.

In 1938 the royal couple moved to Compton House, in the village of Wentworth in Virginia Water, Surrey.

Due to bombing by the German Luftwaffe in 1940, the couple again moved, first to a small house in Devon, and then to Lake Vyrnwy Hotel in Powys, Wales, where the former king had a heart attack.

The couple returned to Compton House, as he expressed his preference to die there. King Prajadhipok died from heart failure on 30 May 1941.

His cremation was held at the Golders Green Crematorium in north London. It was a simple affair attended by just Queen Ramphai and a handful of close relatives. Queen Ramphaiphanni stayed at Compton House for a further eight years before she returned to Thailand in 1949, bringing the king's ashes back with her.

Legacy

Historian David K. Wyatt writes that Prajadhipok was "a hard-working, effective executor" who was "intellectually equal to the demands of his office", and whose main failing was to underestimate the Bangkok elite's growing nationalism, and that "[a]s late as his death in exile, many would have agreed with his judgement that a move towards democracy in 1932 was premature." who already intended to usher in democracy before the Khana Ratsadon prematurely carried out their revolution. Prajadhipok's abdication statement is often cited in support of this view. Later historians have challenged it as a myth, citing evidence that Prajadhipok's political maneuvers leading up to his abdication had more to do with preserving the power and status of the declining monarchy than challenging the Khana Ratsadon's actual failures to uphold democratic ideals.

Tributes to Prajadhipok

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File:Monument of King Rama VII at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University 01.jpg|A Statue of the king in Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Nonthaburi

File:Prajadhipok statue - Thai Parliament Museum - 2017-01-26 (008).jpg|King Rama VII statue at Parliament House of Thailand

</gallery>

Infrastructure

  • Sukhothai Thammathirat University
  • Phra Pok Klao Bridge, Bangkok
  • Prajadhipok Road, Bangkok
  • Prapokklao Hospital, Chanthaburi Province

Military ranks

  • Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet

National honours

  • 80x80px The Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri
  • 80x80px The Ancient and Auspicious Order of the Nine Gems
  • 80x80px Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of Chula Chom Klao
  • 80x80px Ratana Varabhorn Order of Merit
  • 80x80px Knight Grand Commander of the Order of Rama
  • 80x80px Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the White Elephant
  • 80x80px Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the Crown of Thailand
  • 80x80px Dushdi Mala Pin of Service to the Nation (Civilian)
  • 80x80px Chakra Mala Medal
  • 80x80px King Rama V Royal Cypher Medal, First Class
  • 80x80px King Rama VI Royal Cypher Medal, First Class
  • 80x80px King Rama VII Royal Cypher Medal, First Class
  • 80x80px Rajini Medal

Foreign honours

  • :
  • 80x80px Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum
  • :
  • 80x80px Knight of the Order of the Elephant, 8 February 1926
  • :
  • 80x80px Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
  • :
  • 80x80px Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB)
  • :
  • 80x80px Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, 1926
  • :
  • 80x80px Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
  • :
  • 80x80px Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation
  • :
  • 80x80px Knight of the Order of the Seraphim
  • :
  • 80x80px Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles, 1 March 1934
  • :
  • 80x80px Grand Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit
  • :
  • 80x80px Order of the White Lion, First Class

Honorary degrees

  • 1931: Doctor of Laws, George Washington University

Ancestry

See also

  • King Prajadhipok Museum
  • Siamese coup d'état of 1932
  • History of Thailand (1932–1973)
  • List of covers of Time magazine (1930s)

Notes

References

  • King Prajadhipok's Institute
  • Prajadhipok's coronation at YouTube by the Thai Film Archive