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| Although a member of Thai Royalty, his father, H.R.H. Prince Mahidol of Songkhla was far down the line of succession for the Thai Throne. He enrolled at Harvard Medical School to pursue a degree in medicine with the goal to return home to practice in a Thai hospital. As fate would have it, a young woman studying nearby cherished a similar dream. Sangwan Talapat, a commoner, was studying nursing at nearby Simmons College, with the intention of working in a hospital once she returned to Thailand. The couple met, fell in love, wedded in 1920 and had three children. (Princess Galyani Vadhana, Prince Ananda Mahidol and Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej).
The Royal infants were not in direct line of succession to the Throne. Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej's prospects looked even less likely when he turned five and 700 years of the Absolute Monarchy were overturned in a bloodless coup, 8,000 miles away from Harvard Square.
Nonetheless, his proud parents gave him the auspicious name of "Bhumibol Adulyadej". It was the next to the last of these titles, "Bhumibol" (Strength of the Land), that was to define his role as the future King of Thailand, ninth Monarch of the Chakri Dynasty, which had been established with the founding of Bangkok in 1782. |
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