Vajiravudh

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Vajiravudh Rama VI of Siam
King of Siam
HM King Vajiravudh
Reign	23 October 1910–25 November 1925
Full name	King Vajiravudh ( King Rama VI )
Born	January 1, 1881(1881-01-01)
Died	November 25, 1925 (aged 44)
Predecessor	King Chulalongkorn
Successor	King Prajadhipok
Consort	Four queens and princesses consort
Offspring	Princess Bejaratana
Dynasty	Chakri Dynasty
Father	King Chulalongkorn
Mother	Queen Saovabha

Vajiravudh (January 1, 1881 – November 25, 1925) (Rama VI, reigning title Phra Mongkut Klao Chaoyuhua; Thai: พระบาทสมเด็จพระมงกุฎเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว) was King of Siam (now Thailand) from 1910 until his death. He succeeded his father, King Chulalongkorn. His mother was Queen Saovabha.

Education and accession

When Vajiravudh was only eleven years old, he was sent to study at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Later he studied history and law at Christ Church, Oxford. He was greatly influenced by English culture. When his brother Crown Prince Vajirunhis unexpectedly died at age 16, Vajiravudh was named crown prince. After his father's death, he became the sixth monarch of the Chakri Dynasty on October 23, 1910.

King of Thailand

King Vajiravudh reigned during the transition from an old-fashioned to a modernized Thailand. He continued the modernizations introduced by his father, whose achievements were difficult to follow. At the end of the reign of Rama VI, Siam suffered from many serious problems, some of which were setbacks resulting from modernization. Siam had spent much money on western technology, while receiving little from the export of its mainly agricultural products. The King considered political reform or democratization of the system of absolute monarchy, but ultimately decided the people were not ready for it.

When King Vajiravudh, ascended to the throne, he was the only hope for the people of the serious famine and plague stricken country for years. In the late 1910s and early 1920s, the country faced a crisis caused by drought, famine and the shortage of rice. There were serious disagreements between the King and his officials on managing these economic and political problems. Vajiravudh, 'a liberal', always rejected sudden intervention of the government in economic problems such as the rise of rice price, proposed by new officials graduated from European countries. Apparently, the King eventually became a very active critic of the ethnic Chinese rice traders and rice mill owners, seen as greedy businessmen who were exploiting poor people. Vajiravudh thus always compared these Chinese merchants with 'jews' in Germany. However, as serious disasters and troubles continued, he was discredited. Some of his followers were disappointed to see that the king could barely manage the tasks that were essential for the country.

1912 Coup

Further information: Palace Revolt of 1912

Frustration with the King was most strikingly visible when a military coup d'état against him took place on November 11, 1912. The coup leaders planned to seize the king and force him to peacefully abdicate, after which they would urge other princes to take his place as the first President of a Siamese republic. The coup failed, and all the accomplices were arrested. The coup leaders accused the King of devoting his time to writing plays and acting in them with his companions. They also accuse him of living a luxurious life in western style; building Sanam Chan Palace and Lumphini Park, and owning expensive horses from Australia, while preaching to his subjects to be austere and nationalistic. The most important factor in the coup was the king's introduction of senior companions to the nobility and the military. The coup leaders thought that this disrupted the military order and unduly increased the power of the throne. This coup became the inspiration for the revolution in 1932.

Key contributions

Literary works

King Vajiravudh was one of Thailand's highly renowned artists, writing modern novels, short stories, plays and even journals. Among his works were translations of three Shakespeare plays - The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet and many other writing pieces to promote the ideology of Thai nationalism. In several writings, he criticised the ethnic Chinese in Thailand as being "Jews of the East", particularly the immigrant traders, due in part to the their economic affluence in Thailand.^[1]

Portrait of Vajiravudh

Administrative reform and nationalism

Rama VI began his reign with a nationwide tour, sending inspectors to the provinces. After receiving reports, he decided to 'reform' his father (Rama V)'s reform in provincial administration. A new division of province was issued. After troubles in the provinces were reported, new 'viceroys' (Uparaja), the king's agents, were created and sent to supervise provincial governors of the Ministry of Interior, new organ established in the previous reign. This change caused discontent among senior nobles.

He also introduced the surname system as used in western countries, and a flag. He also established the 1924 Palace Law of Succession, which governs succession to the Thai throne to this day. However, according to later historians, his most notable contribution was the focus on nationalism, aiming at Chinese merchants. King Vajiravudh is then considered the father of Thai nationalism, which was later built upon by Field Marshall Phibunsongkhram and Sarit Dhanarajata. He introduced the practice of using the name Rama for the Chakri kings in deference to foreign practice.

Education reform

As he had graduated from Oxford, United Kingdom, King Vajiravudh was interested in a new system of education; western style school or college. He established the Kingdom's first school and university. Upon his accession to the throne, he founded Royal Pages College in 1910. The school was modeled on the traditional English public school, which the King had appreciated while he was spending his education in England. After his death in 1925, the school was renamed Vajiravudh College in his honor. In provinces, numbers of modern, provincial schools were also growing significantly. Vajiravudh also established Chulalongkorn University in 1917. The University, which was named in honour of his father, was the first western-style university in the country.

Other

Vajiravudh was also the first king to see Siam fight in a foreign war. Siam took part in World War I on the side of the Allied Powers. They were the only Southeast Asians in the European theatre (except for 140,000^[2] Vietnamese troops and workers drafted by the French). Though the Siamese did not do much fighting, as the main objective of the war participation would be the hope in dealing with Western Powers, allowing Siam to later negotiate with the Great Powers on 'unfair' treaties made before.^[3]

Through most of his reign there was a good deal of criticism of the king. Some argued that the real power in the state lay with the king's favourites, the young men of his inner entourage for whom he had written plays and with whom he played games and organised clubs and societies. Some, like King Chulalongkorn before his death and Queen Saowapha, his mother, frowned on the king's personal life and his almost total lack of interest in the opposite sex.^[4] It was commonly known, but never spoken of, that the King was in fact an "erratic homosexual".^[5] He would in fact usually have been passed over had his father not introduced succession-by-legal-primogeniture.

Marriage and succession

On 10 August 1924, King Vajiravudh married Chao Chom Suvadhana (เจ้าจอมสุวัทนา). She was granted the title Princess Consort Suvadhana or HRH Phra Nang Chao Suvadhana (พระนางเจ้าสุวัทนา พระวรราชเทวี) on 10 October 1925.

King Vajiravudh and his wife had one daughter, Her Royal Highness Princess Bejaratana (สมเด็จพระเจ้าภคินีเธอ เจ้าฟ้าเพชรรัตนราชสุดา สิริโสภาพัณณวดี). She was born on 24 November 1925, just 2 hours before the king's demise.

Without a direct male heir, King Vajiravudh's brother Prajadhipok became the new monarch.

References

• Greene, Stephen Lyon Wakeman. Absolute Dreams. Thai Government Under Rama VI, 1910-1925. Bangkok: White Lotus, 1999.
• Vella, Walter Francis. Chaiyo! King Vajiravudh and the Development of Thai Nationalism. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii, 1978.

See also

• History of Thailand (1768-1932)
• 1924 Palace Law of Succession