Life As King
As the new King was still a child and was then studying in Switzerland, the parliament appointed Colonel Prince Anuwatjaturong, Lieutenant Commander Prince Artit Thip-apa, and Chao Phraya Yommaraj (Pun Sukhum) as his regents.
In 1938, at age 13, Ananda Mahidol visited the Kingdom of Siam for the first time as monarch. He was accompanied during his visit by his mother and his younger brother Bhumibol Adulyadej. Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram was the Prime Minister at this time and during most of Ananda Mahidol's reign. Pibulsonggram was a military dictator and, in 1939, he arranged to change the name of the country from Siam to Thailand. Late in 1940, Pibulsonggram involved Thailand in the indecisive "Franco–Thai War" against the Vichy forces in French Indochina.
Read more about this topic: Ananda Mahidol
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or king:
“Everything in life that we really accept undergoes a change. So suffering must become Love. That is the mystery.”
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923)
“I have seen in this revolution a circular motion of the sovereign power through two usurpers, father and son, to the late King to this his son. For ... it moved from King Charles I to the Long Parliament; from thence to the Rump; from the Rump to Oliver Cromwell; and then back again from Richard Cromwell to the Rump; then to the Long Parliament; and thence to King Charles, where long may it remain.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)