Stargazer
According to Princess Galyani Vadhana, the Princess of Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra’s book Busy Fingers, the Princess Mother had always shown an interest in astronomy;
| “ | “When she was in the States she had a copy of Astronomy for Beginners. Later on when her youngest son started astronomy lessons at his Lausanne school, Mother bought him a copy of “Le Ciel” (The Sky), Larousse edition. In this book there were some maps of stars and the Moon which she looked up so often that three pages fell out. These Mother took out eventually for separate use.” | ” |
On boat trips, the Princess Mother was known to have enjoyed standing on deck at night, gazing at the stars without the use of a telescope. When the navy officials had explained the names of the constellations to her in Thai and English, she would give their French and Latin names, then proceed to astonish the officials with her knowledge of further constellations, until quite late into the night.
Her interest in astronomy remained a lifelong passion and was reflected in several of her other activities. The constellations appeared as part of her ceramics painting, on lamps, ashtrays and dishes, often in the form of flowers representing the stars, with the number of petals and the colours representing the magnitude of each star.
Her love of astronomy was evident in her Doi Tung Royal Villa. The ceiling of the main reception hall is decorated with the constellations as designed by the Bangkok Planetarium. I want a ceiling for the hall that is inexpensive, she instructed, opting for a carving of the solar system and the 12 signs of the zodiac, and 12 constellations rather than a crystal chandelier. Each star was represented by a light bulb giving off a comparative magnitude of light. Wood carvings of other constellations also adorned her private balcony and some of doors.
Read more about this topic: Srinagarindra