IN REMEMBRANCE OF A PRINCESS
BangkokPost staff
The Thai nation is in mourning for Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana, who passed away at 2:54am on Wednesday after a battle with cancer. She was 84. Princess Galyani Vadhana was recognised as a patron of the arts, culture and countless charities, many of which were initiated by Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother.
While the public admired her quiet, low-key royal grace and her dedication to public health and the welfare of the needy, academia had great respect for her intellect, her expertise in French and classical music and her knack for knowledge and teaching.
Serene and regal, the Princess stood among a handful of Thai women of her generation who were thoroughly schooled with a Western education. She was awarded degrees in both science and liberal arts from Lausanne University and in her youth enjoyed numerous adventure sports such as skiing, horse riding and flying.
In the footsteps of the late Princess Mother, the Princess dedicated herself throughout her life to worthy causes, becoming a patron of 63 charitable organisations. Through her simple, down-to-earth style she endeared herself to the public, maintaining classic regality with the least amount of fuss and protocol.
Elder sister of two kings
The eldest daughter of Prince Mahidol of Songkla and the Princess Mother, then Mom Sangwal, Princess Galyani was born in London on May 6, 1923. She was two years older than King Ananda Mahidol, Rama XIII, and four years older than His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX.
On her birth certificate issued in England, the Princess' given name was May. She was later bestowed the royal name Her Serene Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana Mahidol by King Vajiravudh, Rama VI.
In 1927, King Prajadhipok, Rama VII, elevated the little Princess to Her Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana. She became Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana when King Rama VII abdicated and Princess Galyani's younger brother ascended the throne as King Ananda Mahidol. In 1995, when the Princess turned 72, His Majesty the King elevated her further to HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana, Princess of Naradhiwas, or Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra in Thai.
Childhood
After living in Thailand at Sra Pathum Palace until she was two, the Princess accompanied her parents to Germany where King Ananda Mahidol was born. In 1926, the Mahidol family moved to Boston so Prince Mahidol could study medicine at Harvard University. While the young Princess was attending kindergarten in Boston, her youngest brother was born, later to become His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
While visiting her mother and the baby prince at the hospital, Princess Galyani recalled in her book Jao Nai Lek Lek: Yuwakasat that she was excited and wanted to see her baby brother up close and touch him, but was permitted only to view him from a glass room.
Once the baby prince was brought home, Princess Galyani said she had great fun helping the nanny bathe, dress and take care of him, not knowing she was more of a hindrance than a help. The Princess Mother, she wrote, later asked her to keep out of the way during those busy times.
The family returned to Thailand in 1928, but after less than a year of medical practice, Prince Mahidol passed away as a result of chronic illness in 1929. The Princess was six years old.
``I still remember that day vividly,'' wrote the Princess in Jao Nai Lek Lek: Yuwakasat. She was called in to see the Princess Mother in her room. ``Mother was sitting on a bench by the window. She drew me close to her and said something I couldn't remember, and then she cried, which made me cry, too.''
Despite her grief, the Princess Mother took great care to ensure that the three little royals had a normal and happy childhood. The family photo albums show the royal children enjoying outdoor games, playing in a sand box, digging waterways in the lawn, riding horses, flying kites and swimming in the sea.
Education
Princess Galyani was a student at Rajini School when the Princess Mother decided to move the family to Switzerland on the advice of their grandmother, Queen Savang Vadhana, citing little Prince Ananda Mahidol's frail health, which was vulnerable to tropical heat and humidity. The move was also an attempt to protect the young royals from the political instability in the country at that time.
Going along with the Queen's idea, the Princess Mother took her three children to live in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1933. There the Princess started her primary education at the Miremont School.
Tumultuous Thai politics finally caught up with the young royals when King Prachadhipok, Rama VII, abdicated in 1934, and Prince Ananda Mahidol, then only nine years old, was called upon to take the throne.
The Princess Mother, however, took great pains to ensure that life remained as normal as possible for her three children. HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana continued her secondary education at École Supérieur de Jeune Filles de la Ville de Lausanne, where her curriculum included Latin and German.
In 1938, she was enrolled at the International School of Geneva, a boarding school. She topped her class when she graduated and was ranked third in the country.
The Princess chose to study chemistry for her bachelor's degree at Lausanne University's Faculty of Science. Pursuing her interests in liberal arts, she also took parallel courses in literature, philosophy and psychology at the Faculty of Social Science.
When Princess Galyani Vadhana married a commoner, Col Aram Ratanakul Serirerngrit, in 1944, she relinquished her title, as required by the Palace Law. She had one daughter from the marriage, Thanpuying Tasanavalaya Sornsonggram. The marriage ended in divorce, following which His Majesty the King restored her royal title.
Work and charities
After returning to Thailand in 1950, the Princess followed her calling and became a teacher. For nine years she taught French as well as French literature and history civilisation at Chulalongkorn University.
The Princess later took up a post at Thammasat University as head of the French Language and Literature section as well as the Foreign Language Department, which covered German, Japanese, Chinese and Russian. She also helped formulate the curriculum for the university's French language and literature course.
The Princess also set up the Thai Association of Teachers of French to help improve the teaching of French here.
During this period, the Princess gave special lectures at universities across the country despite the rugged terrain and potential danger from the communist insurgency.
Due to her increasing royal duties the Princess was forced to relinquish her teaching work, but she continued throughout the years to lend support to various educational institutions as well as to scholarship programmes for rural students and gifted young musicians.
Having been schooled in science, the Princess financially supported Thailand's participation in the Academic Olympics as part of her efforts to encourage excellence in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, computers and biology.
An educator at heart, her interest in the education of autistic children has helped spur state commitment, resulting in more facilities and improved programmes for autistic children.
Health care was also one of Princess Galyani Vadhana's interests, an apparent effort on her part to continue the causes of her father, Prince Mahidol of Songkla, known as Thailand's Father of Modern Medicine.
While the Princess Mother was still alive, it was Princess Galyani Vadhana who almost always accompanied her and her mobile medical units to provide much-needed health care services to people in remote areas.
When the Princess Mother passed away, the Princess carried the torch and continued the Princess Mother's various charity projects, making extended trips to rugged areas to provide health care to the needy without any concern for her own health, even though she was at an age when most others would be happy to retire.
She lent her royal patronage to several health-oriented foundations that provide care to the needy. Among them were the Kidney Foundation of Thailand, the Cardiac Children Foundation, the Prostheses Foundation and the Foundation for Slum Child Care.
The Princess was also fond of writing. She penned her first book, Nitaan Samrab Dek (Tales for Children), when she was only nine. She wrote 11 books on the royal family and 10 travelogues. She also translated three books.
Her books on the Princess Mother and her two brothers in their childhood are bestsellers. While she rarely wrote about herself, the voice the readers hear through her books is one of a person who cherished honesty, discipline, simple happiness and life wisdom beyond material indulgences.
Always a teacher, Princess Galyani Vadhana made a point of sharing with the public the knowledge gained about the countries she visited on educational trips. As in her travelogues, television coverage of her royal trips was turned into short documentaries on the destinations, not the traveller.
An animal lover, Princess Galyani Vadhana was particularly fond of dogs. When her favourite dog, Sip Sam, which means 13, died a few years ago, the Princess set up a fund for the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Chulalongkorn University to care for sick and homeless animals. She also initiated a project to set up a special emergency care unit for animals as well as a hospital for abandoned animals.
In her honour, a Thai biologist named a new species of terrestrial crab discovered in Kanchanaburi after her. The crimson crab, or Potomon galyaniae, is known as Poo Pra Pinang in Thai.
In addition to her well-known love of classical music, Princess Galyani was always keen to support traditional arts in Thailand. When the Joe Louis Theatre, a traditional Thai puppet troupe, suffered financial problems and risked closing down in 2004, she appealed to the culture authorities to help rescue this practitioner of the country's puppeteering heritage.
On her 72nd birthday in 1995, His Majesty the King bestowed upon the Princess the titular honour of Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra, or Princess of Naradhiwas, in recognition of her lifelong dedication to charitable causes.
Enjoying good health for most of her life, the Princess said she started feeling the pangs of ageing when well-meaning people kept telling her she should slow down as she was approaching the age of 80.
``Only when they started to emphasize the fact that I was turning 80 did I actually start feeling my age; all the aches and pains associated with old age began to appear,'' she good-humouredly told a small gathering at her royal residence.
Her daughter, Thanpuying Tasanavalaya, tried to persuade the Princess to take a sabbatical year and dedicate herself to physical therapy, but to no avail. After surgery a few years ago, the Princess' health weakened and she had to rely on a walking frame to aid her movement. That did not deter her from attending cultural performances, classical music concerts and other charity events close to her heart.
The last concert graced by the Princess was the Saeng Nueng (One Light) on July 15 at the Thailand Cultural Centre. The concert was performed by 19 music students who are recipients of the Fund for Classical Music Promotion under the Patronage of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana scholarship programme, one of the Princess' initiatives to promote the study of Western classical music by gifted Thai musicians.
On June 15, the Princess was admitted to Siriraj Hospital, where tests revealed she had abdominal cancer. She remained at Siriraj until her death.
The public was first officially informed of the Princess' illness on October 25 when the Bureau of the Royal Household announced that a brain scan had revealed extensive damage to the left side of her brain due to clogged blood vessels.
A subsequent announcement on October 26 divulged that the Princess' abdominal cancer was the same kind as her breast cancer, which had been diagnosed 10 years earlier.
As 2007 came to a close, the Bureau of the Royal Household informed the public on Dec 31, 2007, of the Princess' breathing problem, partial kidney failure and blood infection.The following day, the Princess' condition worsened; she became unconscious, her breathing weak and her kidneys no longer functioning.
Members of the royal family went to Siriraj Hospital on January 1 to be with the Princess. His Majesty the King was beside his elder sister throughout her last hours.
HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana is survived by her only daughter, Thanpuying Tasanavalaya Sornsonggram, and one grandson, Jitas Sornsonggram.
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