KING MONGKUT
King Mongkut (Rama IV)
King of Siam
Reign 2 April 1851 - 1 October 1868
Born 18 October 1804
Died 1 October 1868 (aged 63)
Predecessor Jessadabodindra
Successor Chulalongkorn
Consort Queen Somanas Vadhanavadi (1851)
Queen Debsirindra (1851 onward)
Issue 82 sons and daughters
Dynasty Chakri Dynasty
Father Buddha Loetla Nabhalai
Mother Queen Srisuriyendra
King Mongkut (Rama IV of Siam) , (October 18, 1804 - October 1, 1868) was king
of Siam from 1851 to 1868. Historians have widely regarded him as one of the
most remarkable kings of the Chakri Dynasty. Prince Mongkut was the son of King
Rama II and his first wife Queen Srisuriyendra, whose first son died at birth in
1801. Prince Mongkut was five years old when his father succeeded to the throne
in 1809. According to the law of succession, he was the first in line to the
throne; but when his father died, his influential half-brother, Nangklao, was
strongly supported by the nobility to assume the throne. Prince Mongkut decided
to enter the Buddhist priesthood and travelled in exile to many locations in
Thailand, during which time he founded the Thammayut Nikaya reform movement that
later became one of the two denominations of Buddhism in Thailand. Prince
Mongkut spent the following twenty-seven years searching for Western knowledge;
he had studied Latin, English, and astronomy with missionaries and sailors.
Prince Mongkut would later be noted for his excellent command of English,
although it is said that his younger brother, Vice-King Pinklao, could speak
even better English.
After his twenty-seven years of pilgrimage, King Mongkut succeeded to the throne
in 1851. He took the name Phra Chom Klao, although foreigners continued to call
him King Mongkut. His awareness of the threat from the British and French
imperial powers, led him to many innovative activities. He ordered the nobility
to wear shirts while attending his court; this was to show that Siam was no
longer barbaric from the Western point of view.
King Mongkut periodically hired foreign instructors to teach his sons and
daughters English. Among teachers in the list were a missionary named Dan Beach
Bradley, who was credited for introducing Western medicine to the country and
printing the first non-government run newspaper; and, on recommendation by Tan
Kim Ching in Singapore, an English woman named Anna Leonowens, whose influence
was later the subject of great Thai controversy. It is still debated how much
this affected the worldview of one of his sons, Prince Chulalongkorn, who
succeeded to the throne.
King Mongkut (Rama IV)
King of Siam
Reign 2 April 1851 - 1 October 1868
Born 18 October 1804
Died 1 October 1868 (aged 63)
Predecessor Jessadabodindra
Successor Chulalongkorn
Consort Queen Somanas Vadhanavadi (1851)
Queen Debsirindra (1851 onward)
Issue 82 sons and daughters
Dynasty Chakri Dynasty
Father Buddha Loetla Nabhalai
Mother Queen Srisuriyendra
King Mongkut (Rama IV of Siam) , (October 18, 1804 - October 1, 1868) was king
of Siam from 1851 to 1868. Historians have widely regarded him as one of the
most remarkable kings of the Chakri Dynasty. Prince Mongkut was the son of King
Rama II and his first wife Queen Srisuriyendra, whose first son died at birth in
1801. Prince Mongkut was five years old when his father succeeded to the throne
in 1809. According to the law of succession, he was the first in line to the
throne; but when his father died, his influential half-brother, Nangklao, was
strongly supported by the nobility to assume the throne. Prince Mongkut decided
to enter the Buddhist priesthood and travelled in exile to many locations in
Thailand, during which time he founded the Thammayut Nikaya reform movement that
later became one of the two denominations of Buddhism in Thailand. Prince
Mongkut spent the following twenty-seven years searching for Western knowledge;
he had studied Latin, English, and astronomy with missionaries and sailors.
Prince Mongkut would later be noted for his excellent command of English,
although it is said that his younger brother, Vice-King Pinklao, could speak
even better English.
After his twenty-seven years of pilgrimage, King Mongkut succeeded to the throne
in 1851. He took the name Phra Chom Klao, although foreigners continued to call
him King Mongkut. His awareness of the threat from the British and French
imperial powers, led him to many innovative activities. He ordered the nobility
to wear shirts while attending his court; this was to show that Siam was no
longer barbaric from the Western point of view.
King Mongkut periodically hired foreign instructors to teach his sons and
daughters English. Among teachers in the list were a missionary named Dan Beach
Bradley, who was credited for introducing Western medicine to the country and
printing the first non-government run newspaper; and, on recommendation by Tan
Kim Ching in Singapore, an English woman named Anna Leonowens, whose influence
was later the subject of great Thai controversy. It is still debated how much
this affected the worldview of one of his sons, Prince Chulalongkorn, who
succeeded to the throne.