In recent centuries, the world pattern has changed greatly, and the decline of feudal dynasties around the world has demonstrated the progress of human society. Today, very few countries still have monarchies. The more famous ones, such as the United Kingdom, still retain their traditional royal family, but the power has long been different; Another example is Japan, which has no real power but has no real power, and exists more as a symbol of the country. There is only one country whose kingship seems to be similar to that of the emperors of the ancient feudal period in ancient China, and that country is Thailand. The current king of Thailand is Rama X, Maha Vajiralongkorn, who ruled Thailand when the country was relatively stable and the throne was relatively stable, which was not the case in Thailand for more than half a century before he ascended the throne. Today, the curator wants to talk to you about the past of the Thai royal family in the last century, which is not made public...
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The Thai royal family has deep ties with China, not only because Thailand was once a vassal state of China in ancient times, but mainly because the current royal family was built by Chinese. The founding king of Thailand, Zheng Xin, is a Chinese, but now the Thai royal family is not related to Zheng Xin, but it is very related.
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Thailand was known in ancient times as the Sukhothai Dynasty and the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, a kingdom that was once destroyed by Burma. Zheng Xin, a Chinese who was serving in the Thai royal family at the time, led his troops to drive the Burmese away and re-establish a new kingdom. The kingdom was historically known as the Thonburi Dynasty, and Jeong Shin became the first king of the kingdom.
But when Jeong Shin was king in Thailand, his rule was unstable. On April 7, 1782, a palace coup d'état took place in the Thonburi dynasty and King Jeong Shin was killed. Since Zheng Xin had no descendants to inherit the throne, the general Chao Phraya Chokri at this time succeeded to the Thai throne, that is, the historical Rama I. and moved the capital to Bangkok, so the dynasty is also known as the Bangkok Dynasty.
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Thailand was a vassal state of the Central Plains Dynasty, and no matter which king succeeded to the throne, he had to report to the Chinese emperor and request canonization, which was justified. After Rama I ascended the throne, in order to prevent the Qing Dynasty from becoming suspicious, he immediately sent emissaries to the Qing Dynasty to report on the succession. Because Rama I was worried that the Qing Dynasty would intervene in the army after learning of this matter, he did not tell the truth to the Qianlong Emperor, Rama I claimed to be Zheng Xin's son Zheng Hua, and he succeeded to the throne because Zheng Xin suddenly fell ill and died.
Although the old man of Qianlong had some doubts about the sudden succession of Thailand, he was too far away to investigate, so he went down the river to make a personal favor and canonized Rama I. To this day, the national certificate presented by Rama I to Qianlong is still preserved in the Palace Museum. As a result, the kings of Thailand have a Chinese name of "Zheng surname", which has continued to the present. Chao Phraya Chakri is known as Rama I, only the current ancestor of the Thai royal family, but the real royal family is still from Zheng Xin.
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Unlike its Southeast Asian countries, although European powers entered Thailand in the early 19th century, Thailand was not actually colonized. The succession to the throne later practiced by the Thai royal family, similar to that of the British royal family, was inherited in the order of the heirs to the throne, which was similar to the "brother to brother" method in mainland history.
Although Thailand did not become a colony of Britain and France, Thailand was greatly influenced by Western countries. In 1869, after King Rama V Chulalongkorn ascended the throne, slavery was abolished and European state administration was emulated. In 1910, Rama V died, and his second son, Rama VI, took the throne, but after Rama VI ascended the throne, there was an awkward situation, he had no sons, when the Thai royal family stipulated that daughters were not allowed to succeed to the throne, Rama VI and a brother also died early, so the succession to the throne changed.
In the eyes of the outside world, why is the Thai royal succession so complicated? Because Thailand has its own unique succession system, when Rama VI first took the throne, his mother was designated by Rama V as a "disciplined government" and oversaw the country by his mother.
But Rama VI later had no children and no brothers, so who was he chosen? Rama VI actually had a younger brother who had the most right to inherit, but his younger brother gave up the throne because he had found a foreign woman to be a concubine. After the death of Rama VI in 1925, he had to choose his half-brother to succeed him, which is the historical Rama VII.
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After Rama VII succeeded to the throne in 1925, Thailand was in a period of instability, with strong demands for a constitutional monarchy and for the king to relinquish power. In 1932, Rama VII was forced to implement a constitutional monarchy. But Rama VII was at odds with the government, and under pressure from the government, he was forced to abdicate. With the abdication of Rama VII, Thailand ushered in another change of throne, because he no longer had the right to designate an heir.
Rama VII also had no younger brother, and the succession to the throne was now in the hands of the descendants of another wife and son of Rama V. At this time, there is only one person who is most suitable for the heir to the throne, and he is only four years old, Ananta Mahitun, known in history as Rama VIII, and our protagonist today.
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Ananta Mahidol was born on September 20, 1925, to the son of Prince of Songkla and to Srinakarin. As a young man, Ananta Mahidol settled in Germany with her parents, and education as a teenager was almost always carried out in Europe.
Her mother, however, was a tragic woman, whose husband, Prince Songkla, returned to Thailand after graduating from Harvard University with a Ph.D., but died when Ananta Mahidol was only four years old.
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At that time, Thailand had a vigorous revolutionary wave, and the Thai royal family ruled in jeopardy. Rama VII was determined to govern, but was still powerless in the face of an increasingly complex domestic and international environment. Under this tide of history, the young Ananta Mahidol was put on the stage of history and became the Rama VIII of Thai history. It is worth mentioning that Ananta Mahidol has never held a succession ceremony, and his identity as Emperor Rama VIII was posthumously awarded after his brother succeeded to the throne.
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At that time, Ananta Mahidol was a spirited scholar who was forced to interrupt his studies in Switzerland and return to the throne at home. At that time, the parliament established three auxiliary ministers to supervise the king's words and deeds.
Rama VIII was only thirteen years old at the time and returned home with his mother and younger brother Bhumibol. Unexpectedly, although he was only a new emperor who had not dried up, he was unanimously welcomed by the Thai subjects.
However, the international situation at that time was not optimistic, and after the efforts of the previous kings, Thailand was saved from becoming a colony of the Western powers. World War II broke out shortly after Ananta Mahidol took the throne, and fortunately Thailand was not affected much.
The English envoy, when meeting Louis Mountbatten, said of the young monarch that "a dress was studded with jewels, somewhat short-sighted and somewhat cowardly, lonely and pitiful in the crowd, as if he were about to fall at any moment."
Louis Mountbatten saw the Thai monarch and felt that the king could not rule Thailand for long. Sure enough, on June 9, 1946, Ananta Mahidol at the age of twenty was shot in the palace.
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After the sudden death of Rama VIII, the Thai throne changed, and his brother Bhumibol Adulyadej took the throne, which is the historical Rama IX. But the death of Rama VIII became a pending case, and King Bhumibol forbade the death of Rama VIII.
So why did Rama VIII die? According to the records, Rama VIII was more likely to be shot because the bullet passed through the back of the head through the door of the head, and Rama VIII died lying on the bed. But Thailand is characterized as suicide. Later generations made bold speculations about the death of Rama VIII.
1. The murder of the brother of the king
Some people suspect that Rama VIII was killed by King Bhumibol, but King Bhumibol was also in the country at this time, and King Bhumibol had expressed his reluctance to become king. From the perspective of brotherly relations, the two have a deep feeling. But after Rama VIII's death, Rama VIII's mother first discovered it and notified Bhumibol to the scene. In addition, Rama VIII did not officially succeed to the throne, but was later posthumously crowned by Rama IX.
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2. Death by suicide
Some people have given some explanation for this, saying that Mahidol was mentally ill and extrapolating the death of Rama VIII as a suicide. But when others found him, he was lying on his back on the bed without glasses, and because his myopia was very high, he could hardly see anything without glasses. He has a small bullet hole in his forehead, and the hole in the back of his brain is relatively large. His pistol was an M1911 pistol given to him by a U.S. officer, who was not with him at the time. It is a heavy pistol, and it is difficult for untrained people to use such a pistol. The analysis that Rama VIII, who was not in good health, could not have shot this gun into his forehead in bed was too far-fetched, and because the American pistol was so powerful, it was difficult to use it without training. Even if the American pistol was used to commit suicide, due to the power of the pistol, Rama VIII's head must have burst, but there was no such phenomenon at the scene.
3. Killed by agents
Another suspicious point about the cause of Rama VIII's death pointed to the Japanese intelligence officer Tsuji Masanobu, who was active in Thailand, and Tsuji Masanobu was closely related to Marshal Luan Phibun Songkan, who was pro-Japanese during World War II and wanted to defect to the United States after the war. Marshal Luan Phibun Songkan may have instructed Tsuji Masayashi to assassinate Rama VIII.
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4. The Prime Minister killed
At the time of Rama VIII's death, Thailand's prime minister, Biri Pangrong, was said to be both a left-wing leader and a British spy.
One of the reasons why Biri Pangrong is most suspicious is that after Mahidol died, it was he who supported Mahidol 's younger brother, later Rama IX, to take the throne, and it is often believed that he felt that Mahidol was too young to be easily controlled, so he helped him to take the throne. On the other hand, another extremely important event was that six years after Mahidol died, in 1955, Biri Panomrong executed three court suspects, saying that they had killed Mahidol in the eyes of the Thai people, which was nothing more than an attempt to cover up the crime.
In short, the death of Rama VIII is still a mystery, most of the royal family members who witnessed the incident have also died, even if there are still alive, I am afraid I will not say it, after all, Bhumibol was explicitly forbidden to talk about the death of Rama VIII in that year.
What are your different views on this dusty past? Hurry up and gather in the comments section to discuss with the curator!