THAILAND'S MOMENT OF TRUTH - ZENJOURNALIST

to the moment of his death. He was thirty-seven – best, most loved of Chakri princes.
[Krueger, The Devil’s Discus]
As doubts grew about the survival – and safety – of the Thai monarchy, Sangwan took her
three children to Lausanne in 1933. Despite the sorrow of Mahidol’s death, which affected
Sangwan in particular, their years growing up in Switzerland were very happy for Ananda
and Bhumibol. When Ananda suddenly became King Rama VIII of Siam following the
abdication of his uncle Prajadhipok, Sangwan was determined to fight for him to be allowed,
at least, a normal childhood:
Prince Ananda Mahidol… heir presumptive to the throne of Siam, went to the
playground of his school here unconcernedly today and as usual participated in the
games of his schoolfellows. The routine of his school life was unchanged by the
abdication of his uncle, former King Prajadhipok.
The bright vivacious boy, full of mischief and said to be very intelligent, is doing
well at school, particularly in arithmetic and dictation. He has been in school here
long enough to have his memory of Siam dimmed.
With his brother, 7, and his sister, 12, he lives with his mother, Princess Songkla
Mahidol… in an unpretentious flat in Lausanne.
“If you were a mother, how would you feel about it?” was her reply when asked
whether she would like to see her son on the Siamese throne.
She said she took little interest in politics…
“I should like to remain in Switzerland until my children have completed their
education,” but I will do my duty if called on,” she added. [New York Times, Siam’s
Heir Plays at Swiss School, March 5, 1935]
According to his elder sister Galyani in a 1987 memoir, Ananda was initially reluctant and
wrote a list of all the reasons he didn’t want to rule Siam:
He did not wish to be king because (1) he was only a child, (2) he knew nothing, (3)
he was lazy, (4) the Chair (how he referred to the throne) was too high, and he could
not sit still and could therefore fall off it… (5) wherever he went he would have to
use the umbrella and could not enjoy the sun, (6) too many people in front and behind
him wherever he went and he could not run. [Galyani, Little Princes to Little King]
Black-and-white footage of a contemporary interview with Ananda in Switzerland shows him
similarly unimpressed about being king – and playful:
Interviewer: Does it interest you?
Ananda: No.
Interviewer: Why?
Ananda: It just doesn’t interest me.
Interviewer: What does interest you?
Ananda: Playing!
Sangwan wanted her sons to finish their schooling in Switzerland before becoming immersed
in the stiflingly antique and formalized world of the Siamese royal court. As she wrote to
their grandmother, Queen Sawang, in April 1935:
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Both my son and myself have no desire for honour nor riches. The reason Nan has to