← Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood
Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood
176. Who Killed the King of Siam?
01:01:38
The Mysterious Death of Rama VIII
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- [00:10]
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- [02:52]
Katie Charlwood
Hello delicious friends, and welcome to who did what Now? The History Podcast. That's not your history class with me, your host, Katie Charlwood, history harlot and reader of books. So I've been trying to gently segue into this topic for the last 44 minutes, but there really is no easy way to say that. The main comments I have had the main points of discussion that have been directed at me and in the last seven days have either been about Nazis or titties. Like, that's what it's been. Because I have had more professional requests and invitations regarding World War II and Nazi Germany like, than I've had in the last five and a half years. And on the other side, lots of people are either complaining about or complaining to other people about them. Complaining about my boobs because there's a whole issue with the fact that my body is simply too voluptuous for the Internet, apparently. And if I was skinny, like, there would not be an issue regarding my bosom, like, there would not be a concern if I was wearing the same outfits. But because I happen to have a fulsome set of fun bags, there seems to be an issue, right? But, ah, it's just made me more petty. Listen, we all know at this point that I claimed the history harlot out of pure unadulterated spite, because that's who I am as a person. Like, I ended up wearing like one of my show outfits, like last summer during a heat wave. It's a vinyl dress. And I wore it again during a heat wave in a country that is not used to heat, okay? And I did that out of pettiness and spite. That being said, if you're in Belfast on February 1st and you want to see me in said vinyl dress, I will be performing a live podcast. And one more thing. Yeah, we're gonna Columbo this. So there was a complaint on one of the social media posts for the Texarkana Moonlight Murders about the first podcast episode regarding that, like the first half and this, it was a clip was really weird though, because they were like, oh, you know, she's just like hawking all these books. And I just really wanted her to hurry up and get to the murder and mayhem, which, like serious talk, right? I recommend one book per episode and it's at the very end. So that was confusing for me. And it took me a second to realize they were complaining about the fact that I provide sources, right? I will always provide sources. I will always cite my sources in the podcast episode. Because, like, you shouldn't just take my word for anything, right? Like, you shouldn't, right? You. That's why I give you the information and you can go research it yourself. Like, a lot of the time when I'm researching things, I look for different opinions regarding the very topic I'm reading. Because that's how you get a full, encompassing view, right? Because nothing exists in a vacuum, right? And this is not a model podcast. This is a history podcast. So I'm gonna give you the context, the background, the lore, because history does not exist in a vacuum. And I'm not just gonna be all about the slashings and the killings and everything that happens because these were people. And victims are often just a footnote in their own stories. And I think it's disgusting. So I will always do my best to provide more information, like here and this and who did what now. And I will always endeavor to try. Okay? I will always endeavor to try. People matter because people make history. But I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, katie, it's been four and a half minutes. Quit your jibble jabber. Infact me in fact you I will. But first we've got to get our source on. Don't mind me. Just hawking some books. Our sources are Thai Non Resistance A Footnote to History by Kenneth P. Landon the Dynamics of Thai Royal Succession by Pran Jintrawet Royal Words and Their Unroyal Consequences by Christine Gray the King Never Smiles by Paul M. Handley by Pavan Chachabalponpun the Violent Death of King Ananda of Siam by Keith Sampson A Struggle for the Nation by Chandvit Kassatsiri the Devil's Discus by Rain Kruger Come with me from America to Asia for another tale of 1940s crime. On 9 June 1946, a young king is discovered dead in his palace bed from a gunshot wound. No witnesses, no explanation, nothing. Was it an accident or was it murder? Now I should warn you before we go any further that there will be moments where old defunct cough, colonial cough names will be used in historical context. And now I am well aware that for a lot of people out there, what they know about Thailand comes from either off colour jokes from comedians who thought they were hot shit in the 90s, and of course the Yul Brynner classic the King and I. So Ananda Mahadol, the first son of a third prince, was not expected to become a king of Siam, but the rain was thrust upon him on 2nd March 1935 when he ascended the throne as the King of Siam. And you may be thinking Siam okay, not Thailand. Well, that's because countries sometimes change their names after they have a coup or two. But for this to make sense, it's probably best that we slip into some context. So before the rise of the Thai kingdoms, a lot of what is present day Thailand was dominated by the Mon and Khmer civilizations, especially the Dvaravati Culture and the Khmer empire sempired at Angkor. Thai speaking people gradually migrated south from southern China, settling amongst existing populations. Over time they gained power and formed independent like states or provinces. Sukhothai is traditionally considered the first Thai kingdom in about 1238 after breaking away from Khmer control. It is remembered as a golden age of Thai culture where when the kingdom expanded and also promoted Theravada Buddhism and this was when the Thai writing system was developed. The kingdom eventually declined and was absorbed by Ayutthaya. Due to its strategic location for trade, Ayuthaya grew into a powerful and wealthy kingdom. It became a major regional power, engaging diplomacy and commerce with like India, Persia, China and European nations. European nations? Well that's a rookie mistake. The Ayodhya kingdom started around was it 1351 and it rose from the Lavo kingdom and as it evolved it absorbed the Siamese Sukhothai kingdom too. So during this time Thai culture, law and royal traditions became like more centralized and hierarchical. Now the kingdom fell after like 400 years when it was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. After the fall, King Thaksin reunified the kingdom, but not without a rebrand. This was now the Thonburi kingdom whose capital was now, you guessed it, Thonburi. King Taksin's reign was focused on rebuilding the economy, restoring political stability and and of course defending against the Burmese. The kingdom was successful from a military standpoint, but shouting at an egg isn't going to fry it. And after 20 years Taksin's reign was overthrown which led to a new dynasty that is still reigning today. In 1782 Rama I founded the Chakri dynasty. And as king he decided that the capital of Siam should be s. No, it was Bangkok. So this new kingdom, it revived Ayutthaya's traditions while strengthening administration and culture. And basically the first three kings of the dynasty were focused on rebuilding the country after all of those devastating wars with burma in the 1700s. By the mid 19th century they are becoming increasingly aware of the modernities, the progression in technology and society of Europe because well, well, because the Victorians ruin everything. So for the next four kings, so that's Ramas four through to seven were pushing to modernize Siam. Meanwhile, Siam's neighbors were being conquered by the European powers. The Dutch had claimed the islands to the south. So like modern day Indonesia, the British annexed, see invaded the Malay peninsula which that's south and then Burma which was to the west. The French were litard Adanap and then took Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to the east. So Siam is watching their neighbouring countries get annexed, invaded. And again, they're like, really good at the art of diplomacy. So Siam convinces France and Britain that it was better to have them as a neutral nation with on the Southeast Asian mainland. Like, it was better to do that than it was to let either of them take over. Because taking the country over would result in a power imbalance between the imperial nations. Like, they're very much going, like, if they invade me, right, then they take me over, then they can attack you. And if you take me over, like, it's the same thing. Like, one of us is going to be busy fighting each other instead of, you know, being the colonial powers that be in attacking all these other nations. Right. And, you know, the Brits and the French are like, fair enough, actually, yeah, we. We would rather go and just, you know, steal all this stuff from these people than have to deal with this, you know, especially when our actual countries are very close to one another and we don't need that hassle. Now, that being said, Siam did lose some territory, and by some, I mean, nearly half, like, to the French and the British. But the core of the kingdom was left whole. And all through this history, dynasty, the kingdom of Siam, it was ruled by an absolute monarchy. Right? So an absolute monarchy is when the head of the state, the person who makes all the decisions, like their word is law, effectively, that's your monarch, that's your sovereign. Yeah, that's who that is. But here's the thing. Modern Western countries were switching from absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. So instead of the king having absolute power and is limited by the laws set out by the constitution, so they're seeing this happening all over. Like, some countries are getting rid of monarchies altogether. They're just abolishing them, and others are creating these constitutional monarchies instead. And Siam's looking at that and they're like, you know what? We could. We could go for a bit of that. So a group of reformers staged a coup in 1932, basically overthrowing absolute monarchy to create a constitutional monarchy. So this is during this period between the First World War, the Great War and the Second World War. Like, it is what would commonly be called the interwar period. So a lot of nations, they'd changed and evolved. And these reformers in Siam, well, they thought, like, the country would benefit from. From not having one singular person with absolute power controlling over everything. Okay. Now, it would be silly to assume that all of the pressure came from an external force, but no, the People of Siam, right? They were pissed. Vajira Woot, the sixth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, Rama VI. I know you're shocked. He had reigned for 15 years, so 1910 to 1925. And so he had done, I'm going to say, a few interesting things, like he was really progressive in lots of ways. So he had initiated reforms. He had established military academies. And his first act of king was to build the Royal Pages College. And it would be posthumously named after him. And he'd also built. Well, he had built. He didn't like bricks and mortar himself. So he had this all boys boarding school built instead of the customary royal monastery, because he said there was already too many of those in Bangkok. And so this was actually based on the model of sort of all boys boarding schools, like in Britain, like Eton and things like that. Later, he raised the Civil servants School and the Chulalongkorn University. On top of this, he set up public hospitals. He also established the Wild Tiger Corps, a palamilitary corps outside the established military hierarchy. So, like, it started out as a ceremonial guard, but became a military force of 4,4000 in its first year. And it also had the tiger cubs, which is like the Boy Scouts. Now, the army, like the actual traditional military, were not super happy about the Wild Tiger Corps, and they saw that as a threat. And because, like, he was progressive, many radicals expected, like, a new constitution or when he had his coronation right, because he did all this stuff, he was planning all these things. And lots of people assumed that he was going to be moving away from absolute monarchy and towards a constitutional monarchy. But, yeah, this didn't happen. And so young army officers planned a coup for the 1st of April, 1912. But not April Fool's Day, like, but a traditional Siamese New Year's Day. They plan to make one of Vajiravud's half brothers the first president of Siam. But looselups sank ships. The captain who was selected to assassinate the king told Prince Chakrabongs, another of the king's half brothers. So all the conspirators are arrested and they're sentenced to everything from imprisonment to execution. But the king pardoned the men and released them. And he did it for the sake of the kingdom. So the king, he is building schools, universities, palaces, hospitals, the whole shebang, like. Then the First World War hits, and Siam has very minimal involvement. They joined the Allies in 1917. Siam lost 19 soldiers, right? So one, it shows up right at the end of the war and secondly, loses 19. And to what, you may ask? The Spanish flu. Also in 1917, the price of silver rose, making it higher face value than the silver coins, like it was on. And so he ends up banning the export of Siamese coins. And like post First World War economies, like all over the globe are struggling. So this is. He's trying to, you know, protect the wealth of the nation, like, which is interesting because he never really did. You'll see because, like, Siam also has, like, droughts and food shortages, and the king is still investing in infrastructure, building bridges and railroads, and the country has to take a loan from Britain. And then in 1925, he dies and his brother is king. So his brother, right, Rama vii, he's gonna deal with all of this because he has this big financial mess and the fact that all of the ministerial positions were a who's who of nepotism, princes appointed brothers, sons, cousins, etc. Which is not ideal. Another thing's like this chain reaction, right? So Britain then drops the gold standard, which completely buggers up Siam's exports, and it ends up making Siam rice more expensive, right? So they're having huge trouble trying to export, like, the same stuff they've been exporting for so long. And so in 1931, there's an economic depression. And so reformers said, enough is enough, right? Because you had all this funding that has been funneled out and into all of these things being built, which great to do, but you need to be able to finance that, you know, and so it becomes a constitutional monarchy. So, yes, a constitutional monarchy is where the monarch or sovereign, so king or queen, when they serve as the head of state, but they have limited powers. The elected officials, like the Parliament, the government, they hold the real power, right? They have the ability to make and pass legislation. The thing is, this new government was not as democratic or as efficient as as desired. And this country had known absolute monarchy for centuries. And now the people were struggling with this new authority. And what followed was six years of political instability. Field Marshal Plague Fibon Songram, the commander of the army, seized power and named himself prime minister in 1938. And one of the first things he does after taking over is he changes the name of the country from Siam to Thailand, which means Land of the Free. Then a year later, in 1939, the Second World War started. And you might be wondering, where is this young king in all of this? Well, the safest place he could possibly be. Sweatzerland.
- [24:06]
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- [24:25]
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- [25:59]
Katie Charlwood
Momchao Ananda Mahadol Mahadol was born on 20 September 1925 in Heidelberg in Germany to Prince Mahidal Adulyadesh and Princess Srinagarindra. This makes Ananda Mahedal the first Siamese king to be born outside of the country. So he's been born in Heidelberg in Germany because his dad's returned there for kidney treatment. So like I think he was studying there initially when he was planning to be in the Navy, but he kept being sort of overlooked and overruled by all of these like British Navy officers. And he realized that wasn't going to change. So instead of doing that he really focused on medicine. And so he at one point he's like studying in Edinburgh and then he's over in Harvard studying. Okay. And then his kidneys are having issues so he returns to Germany for treatment and that is where Amanda is born. I think I may have said actually that. Wait, did I just say that his sister was younger? No, he has an older sister and then it's him and then over in Harvard cuz they they returned to Harvard over in Massachusetts, that his brother is born. Okay, so that's the three of them. So he ends up doing that, and then after a while, he ends up returning to Bangkok because of, like, an uncle dies. So he's there and he ends up being there, and he doesn't really get a chance to leave because his health is deteriorating. Like, prince, like, Prince Mahadal has lots of, like, health issues. Now, I'm. I'm not saying it specifically because his parents were half siblings. I'm just saying that it's, you know, your family tree should not be a wreath said before. And I'll say it again. So Ananda Mahadol, like, when he is two years old, his uncle, King Prajadahabok, he ends up, like, bringing him up from, like, that lower prince status to the higher prince status because like I said before, Ananda is the first son of a third son. So Prince Mahadal has two older brothers. Like, the first one was king, and then he died, and then the second one became king. And he ends up, like, bringing everybody up, rising them up in the rank, but he does not name a successor. Like, he doesn't do that. And it's like, that's the kind of thing that you have to do. So he ends up, like, traveling around with his dad. And so when, like, they return in 1928, Prince Mahadol's health just gets worse and worse. There's kidney issues, the liver abscesses. And then he dies at the age of 37 on the 24th of September, 1929. So at four years old, Ananda Mahadol loses his father. And he ends up going to the Dibsiran school in Bangkok. That is up until, you know, the revolution in 1932 that ended the absolute monarchy. And so like, his grandmother, Queen Savang Vadana, like, she's. She's a bit worried because, like, technically, when you go through sort of that heir presumptive, like, he is one of the very likely heirs to the throne. And so it was like, let's, let's maybe get the kids out of there. And so, right, the mom, this widowed mom, she's just like, off we go and takes her kids and goes to Lausanne and Switzerland one year after the coup. So one year after this, off they go. And the official reason they give is for the health and further education of the princes. So he spends most of his youth being educated in Switzerland. And so in 1935, King Prajadipok, he ends up abdicating, right? He. He claims it's due to political issues and health problems and he decides not to name a successor to the throne. And because he didn't name a successor, the government got to decide. So the cabinet, with the approval of the national assembly, used the 1924 palace law of succession and named the nine year old Ananda Mahadol as King of Thailand. That being said, because the new king was a literal child and was attending school in Switzerland, three regents were appointed to take over the duties of the young king. So Colonel Prince Anota Chaturang, Lieutenant Commander Prince Aditya Dibaba and Chao Phraya Yumaraj were the three regents. In 1938, he returned to Thailand as its king for the first time. So, so he goes, he's there with his mother and his brother and he goes to visit and then he goes back to Switzerland. So the following year, 1939, this Second World War starts and Thailand uses diplomacy as its main weapon again. So this just makes Thailand so much more different like than all of its neighbors, you know, because you like see when Japan arrives, you know, Thailand, it resists. And you might be thinking for, for how long? For days, for weeks? For months? No, five hours. Five hours, right. So they resist for five hours. And then they joined Japan as an Axis partner because Prime Minister Fibon, he had admired Japan all then Thailand declares war on the United Kingdom and the United States of America. So like obviously being a, a child. Rama viii, King Ananda Mahidol, King Ananda Mahidal did not take sides again because he was an actual child and of course was spending well. He spe the whole war being in the best and safest possible place at school in Switzerland. Interestingly, that's also where Mother Teresa would be. She was also at school in Switzerland during the Second World War, which is always an interesting one because some people seem to think sidebar that she was like out there helping people throughout this entire thing when. No, no, she was at a school in the relative safety of the neutral Switzerland where the Nazis kept all their banks. Meanwhile, back in Thailand, one of the king's regents was not really fond of Fibon. So pretty phanomyong, he declared himself on the side of the Allies. So basically he formed this anti Japanese political party called the Seri Thai, which basically means Free Thai. Right? So like the Prime Minister, he's declared war on the US right? But the Thai ambassador, Sidney Primov, he refused to actually like deliver the war declaration. Like he just flat out refused to bring it over and deliver it to the U.S. state Department. And instead declared himself in the embassy as being with the Seheritei. So this led to, let's face it, more instability because this split like the government in two. So you had this military government in Bangkok and this civilian government in exile, right? That being said, like a war declaration wouldn't have meant much to the US Anyway. Like, like, they ignored it and they recognized the Sai Thai as the legitimate government of Thailand because they were just like, no. So as we move forward, by 1944, like the war, it not just like turned against like Japan, but also the Prime Minister, Fibon Songkram, like the Sei underground movement had just kept growing. Like it was like the nation saw this aggressive, abusive military power that was being used to abuse people. And they went, no, we don't like this, we don't like this. And also, in addition, furthermore, like, war is expensive. So the Thai economy was absolutely shocking. Like, it was really suffering because of the war. So when the Prime Minister proposes these two, like, huge projects, like, one of which was moving the capital, like the capital city of Thailand from Bangkok to Phetchabun, which is a small town in like the jungle, sort of in the north central part of the country. So which it's. It's as if he wanted to make like, the capital of the country, like, to give it a better defense, to make it more defensible. But, like, it's not wrong because it would be more difficult for like, someone who didn't know the region, the area, like a foreign power. It would be more difficult for them to capture it if it's buried in the damn jungle. So like, like, there's also the idea that he wanted to move the capital to make him like, more independent from like, Japanese powers. Because he wanted power. He didn't necessarily want to have to fall in line. So the other thing that he wanted to do was, in the middle of this war was to build a Buddhist park, like, right in the center of the country in the Saraburi Province. For why? Why specifically? Whoms to say? Like, nobody actually knows. So basically he's planning all this shit which is gonna cost even more money and doesn't really have a valid, like, reasonable reason for it, you know. And so the people who were on his side, government officers, they turn against him. The national assembly just turns down his proposals. And in July 1944, Phi Bun was forced to resign as Prime Minister. Like, he does actually manage to like, start the Buddhist park, but it doesn't get, like, finished until after. After he's dead, right? Well, after he's long, long dead. And it wasn't built and, like, the center of the country, it was just like, a few miles west of Bangkok. It's like Futamonton, which I think it's Buddhist, Buddhist fear. Sidebar. So, like, the park is actually built. Well, they start building it in 1955, and I think it's, like, finished, like, properly in, like, 1976, you know. Anyway, um, so Thai Bun, he ends up like, he's ousted from the government, and he goes to stay in the army headquarters in Lopburi. So the national assembly, they elect this. This noble so Kwang Afuang to replace him. And so he's. He's still sort of being, like, keeping good with the Japanese. However, he was more aligned with the sei. So while he's, you know, doing all of the face work, like the SEI that was aligned with the Allies, it gained control of Bangkok. That being said, they couldn't quite quit the Axis while the Japanese soldiers were still in the country. And on top of this, Phi Boone could not be treated as a war criminal because he still had a decent amount of military on his side. He had enough troops to stage another coup if he felt like it. So basically, the seireitei, they kind of had to, like, twiddle their thumbs for a wee bit till the war ended. And when Japan started surrendered, they, like, completely avoided Thailand's declaration of war against the Allies. And, like, during the war, like, Thailand had gained sort of, like, territory on its borders, like, because it had sided with Japan. So it had, like, the Shan Plateau of Burma. It had parts of Cambodia and Laos, four out of the nine sultanates in the Malay Peninsula, like, all these sort of regions that had belonged to Siam in the 19th century before, you know, the empire had come and claimed them. Empires, I should say came and claimed them. And so Thailand thought, you know what? We should have those stuff again now. When the war ended, British moved their troops across the borders into northern Malaya and the Shan plateau. And the. The ties were just like, you know what? Let's. Let's just let you have that. Like, they were like, you know what? It's good. It's fine. And the new prime minister, he was just like, by the way, we're on your side. Don't attack us. Thank you. Next. Like, he basically says that, you know, none of the king's regents actually signed the declaration of war, and as such, like, it's not valid. We didn't do it. And so the US Was like, we don't care because we have no interest in you. But the other allies, you know, they had, I'm going to call this like a laundry list of demands, right? So they kept threatening to stop it from being able to join the UN if demands were not met. So France wanted the return of sort of the provinces in Cambodia and Laos. Britain wanted like trade agreements, like really nice trade agreements. The right to station British troops on Thai soil indefinitely and one and a half million tons of free rice. Right. And the Soviet Union wanted the Communist Party legalized in Thailand. So thanks to US pressure like Britain dropped the demands apart from the rice, but Thailand was able to sell it to them instead of just like give it away. So they were able to sell them like one and a half million tons of rice. So yeah, so Fibon, like the allies, they want him to put on trial for war crimes. So the allies, they wanted to try Fibon for war crimes, but because there was such great public support, it wasn't really something that the Thai government was willing to do because it's like, yeah, it was seen by like a lot of the people of Thailand, a lot of the nation that he was doing what he thought was in the best interest of, of the country at the time. And so they were like, yeah, I guess we're not doing that. So basically after the war ends, they change the name of the country from Thailand back to Siam because Thailand was so associated with the Second World War and they did not want to be connecting with that. And so in December 1945, Ananda Mahadol, the 20 year old monarch returned to Bangkok to take on his royal duties. Because he's 20 now, it's fine. And basically he gets there. And then in January elections are held to form a post war government. So Preeti Van My, he is sworn in as Prime Minister and that's in March. And the new constitution goes into effect in May 1946. So he's returned to Thailand in December 1945. A month later the elections are happening. And also in January, Louis Mountbatten, the 1st Earl of Mountbatten of Burma, right, the British commander in Southeast Asia. So he visits King Ananda Mahidal and he described him, and I quote, as a frightened, short sighted boy. His slurping shoulders and thin chest be hung with a gorgeous blue diamond studded decorations. Altogether a pathetic and lonely figure. His nervousness increased to such an alarming extent that I came very close to support him in case he passed out. Which feels like he's just really pissy about this young man being king to be honest. He's like, oh, he's so nervous. Yeah, he's dead 20 years old and he's just come back after a massive war. Like, yeah, nervousness is part of it. I wouldn't be surprised. So there's also this rumor that Annandahl didn't want to be king and that he didn't think he was going to be king for long. Like, he didn't think it was going to last. He thought something was going to happen and he wasn't going to be king. And he was right, because his reign would be ended with a bullet to the forehead.
- [46:22]
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- [46:51]
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- [48:24]
Katie Charlwood
On 9 June 1946, King Ananda Mahadol is woken up by his mother, right? So he's in his bedroom. It's on the second floor of The Bournemouthy man, throne hall in the Grand Palace. So six o' clock his mum comes in and wakes him up. An hour and a half later his page, Budsad Padhamasaran, he starts making a breakfast table on the balcony adjoining the King's dressing room. So it's like next to it. So he sees the King standing there an hour later and he brings him his like glass of orange juice, like his daily morning orange juice. But this time the King's just like, I don't really feel like it. And he goes back to bed. So at quarter to nine, so like 8:45, one of the King's other pages, Chut Sangasseni. So he had been sent up by one of the jewelers to measure like the King's like medals and decorations because the jeweler has to make like a special case for them. And so he's there doing that. Like 15 minutes later his younger brother Prince Boomabal goes to visit him. But the King is asleep, he's just back in bed and he's snoozing. So he's like fine and he leaves 20 minutes later. So 9:20am, a single shot rings out from the King's bedroom. So Chit, he runs in, he runs in and then he runs right back out right along the corridor to the apartment of the King's mum. And so he is just like, like shouting, the King's shot himself. And so like the King's mum, so she just follows Chit through into the King's bedroom and finds the body of her son lying face up in bed, blood pouring from a wound in his head. So later that day an official announcement goes on the radio and it basically says that King Ananda Mahidol was accidentally killed while playing with a gun. And not long after he dies, like this rumor starts going round that the Prime Minister, like Preeti, he was behind the death. So he ends up having to having to just resign just out of just all of this, all of this conspiracy. So after this, right, a commission of inquiry in 1946 says that the King's death couldn't have been accidental. But neither suicide nor murder was satisfactorily proved. So like here's something as well. So he was due to go back to Switzerland to finish his studies, right? So he was supposed to go back four days later he was supposed to go back and go to Switzerland and do his thing and then return. But here's the thing, he is shot right in the forehead which. Okay, okay, we're going to, we're going to Talk about suicide for a second. So like if you're going to shoot yourself, like you put the gun to your temple, like logically, you're gonna put it to your temple, you're not gonna put it to the front, right? It's not gonna be a thing that you do like typically, right? Because even for holding like the grip, it's actually easier, like physically. You know what I mean? Anyhow, so November 1947, another couple. Yes, you heard me right. So in 1947, Field Marshal Plique People Sangam, he staged a coup against the elected government. And he appoints Kwang Afaiyang as Prime Minister and ordered a trial. So King Ananda's secretary, Senator Charlie Oportunos and the pages. But in cheat, they were arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder the King. So the trial begins in August 1948, right? So like here's the thing. The guy who staged the coup, sorry, the US Ambassador Edwin Stanton, that he didn't think the trial would resolve any of the mystery of the King's death. And the prosecution's case, it was supported by 124 witnesses and just buckets and buckets of documents, right? There is just so much evidence that the defence counsel asked for an adjournment just to give them time to consider this. Like, it gets refused. And so like the lawyers, they resign in a new council. Like they have to try and get new lawyers. Then. Then two of the defence council were arrested and charged with treason. Of the two that were left, one resigned. Leaving one single young lawyer to defend these three. So Fagna Songkhla. So like by the end of it, he was joined by Charlie Oportuno's daughter, like when she had like graduated. Because this trial runs a long time, so it doesn't end until May 1951. And the court ruled that King Ananda Mahadol had been assassinated, but that like Tullio, the secretary had not been found guilty. And that neither of the pages could have fired the fatal shot. Except they found Chit guilty of being like, like part of the crime. Now the charges against the other two were dismissed and they were released. And so Chit, he appealed against his conviction. And the prosecution, it appealed against the acquittal of the other two. So the secretary and the other page. And after 15 months of deliberation, the appeals court dismissed Chit's appeal, but also found Boot guilty. So they end up appealing to the Supreme Court which deliberated for 10 more months before upholding both convictions. And at that point they end up convicting the secretary as well. So at this point, King Ananda's brother is now king, so he's now Rama the ninth. And so they're petitioning, they're like begging for clemency. And it is rejected on the 17th of February 1955. And on the 18th they were executed by firing squad. Now Rama the 9th. He would go on to say that he didn't think that any of these men were guilty. Like the king bumable. He believed that his brother's death had been an accident. And after the court ruled that it was not an accident, like he. He ended up saying that the investigation provided the fact that he died with a bullet wound in his forehead. It was proved that it was not an accident and not a suicide. One doesn't know. But what happened is very mysterious because immediately much of the evidence was just shifted and because it was political. So everyone was political. Even the police were political. I only know that when I arrived, he was dead. Many people wanted to advance not theories, but facts to clear up the affair. But they were suppressed and they were suppressed by influential people in the country and in international politics. So the thing about the body, right, here's the thing. So the whole thing stinks. The whole thing stinks. So there's a wind over the left eye, right? And it wasn't contact discharge, right? So it is not a contact wound. There's no discharge, right? There's no discharge from the gun. So if the gun is in direct contact, like with the body, with the skin at the moment of that bullet coming out of the. I've. Pistol. Pistol. I've forgotten the name of the. The pipey bit of the gun that shoots out the bullet. That's really bad. How do you forget that? Anyway, we all know that, you know, there's contact burns. There are all of these things. There's, you know, gunpowder. Is it gunpowder, like the residue, right? Especially, you know, then. And there's none of that gunshot residue, gunpowder residue. What am I doing, making fireworks? Jesus Christ. So you've got that the King was lying flat on his back, right? Which is like he was lying down. The way that he was lying down was as if he was already lying down when he was shot. So that just. I'm sorry, it's just a really awkward angle that you've got someone lying flat on a bed holding a gun above their head to shoot from a distance above like that. If you try and do it with your hand, it's very awkward, that's all I'm saying. And the direction of the Bullet fired. It wasn't sort of inwards towards the center of the head. So it's sort of pointing out, so it's even more awkward. And the gun was found right next to Anand Al Mahadol's left hand. But King Rama VIII was right handed, so why would it be in his left hand? So the leader of the opposition, right, so Senay Pramoj, so he's against Prime Minister Priti Banamayong and his nephew and the nephew's wife. Within two days of the King's mysterious death, contact the US State Department to tell them that the king, King Rama viii had been assassinated. Now they also said that he'd been assassinated, you know, by the Prime Minister Priti Binamayong, who had then told the US that, you know, like he was sick of all the rumors against him and that this was just like a horrible, you know, accusation. And listen, he kept saying that it was an accident and that the royal family were against him. So Field Marshal Plague Pulisongram, the guy who, you know, instigated the coup against Preeti Binamayong, he said like it was ridiculous that Preeti could have been involved in this assassination because, right, he was too clever a politician and had too kind a heart to even consider assassinating someone, let alone a 20 year old man like the young king. Now there's also the theory that King Bumabal Adulyadej, the younger brother of Nanda Mahadol, that he was responsible for the king's death, you know, that he had either accidentally shot him while playing with a gun or that it was maybe more deliberate so that he could gain the throne. There's also the theory that Ananda Mahadal was playing with a gun because he was in love with a Swiss girl, Marilyn Ferrari, and he would never be able to marry her because she's Swiss and he's, you know, the King of Siam. And there's a theory that due to this, like star crossed lovers never gonna be together, that he ended his life but like he was returning to Switzerland and his uncle had abdicated. He could have done that too. Like there were options. He had a brother who, I mean, he became king anyway. But there, there was routes, they had options and ways to go. So. But you never really know what someone is feeling at any time. And to anyone out there who is actually, if you're suffering suicidal ideation or you're really depressed and you just don't want to go on, like there are numbers to call and people to talk to and you might Feel so alone. But there are people out there. If you don't listen to me, who am I going to talk to? My kids? No, I'm kidding. I mean, am I. I mean. I mean, listen, I'm glad you're here. Okay? That's all. But King Ananda Mahidol, he was cremated at Sanam Luang in Bangkok on 29th March, 1954 years after his untimely death. And so ends our story on King Rama viii, Ananda Mahidol, the King of Siam. Oh, I should actually say as well that after the coup, the name got changed back. The next coup, the name got changed, so it went Siam Thailand. Siam Thailand again. Which is now why we know it as Thailand. Because after that sort of fibon and the World War II association had dissipated at that point. But, yes. So ends our story. Like, I want to apologize because I'm working from, like, six different notebooks at the moment. Because I had written it down in pieces and then I couldn't read my handwriting. So for the awkward pauses, I'm like, what the did I say? And I didn't even say this for Game of Soldiers this time. I didn't get it in there, but there we go. So MB is the bricks, kids. So it is recommendation time. Let's just jump right into it. Yeah, let's do this. So also, bigger tickets to See Me in Belfast. I'm gonna be planning the Dublin show at some point. And then I gotta. I gotta work out some Canada stuff, guys. I gotta work out some Canada stuff with my super awesome, wonderful, lovely friend Sahar, who keeps me organized. So organized, because I can't do it myself because I am pudding in human form. So, yes, recommendation time for watching. I am gonna recommend Don't Tell mom the Babysitter's Dead. Because I watched that recently and I love it so much. Like, so much. And part of me wants to just try and redo or at least colorway the looks from most of the characters throughout that movie. Because I'm like, I could do that. I could. I could dress like all the characters or most of the characters in the Christina Applegate movie. My comfort movie.
- [65:59]
Grow Therapy Advertiser
Goodness.
- [65:59]
Katie Charlwood
I'm trying to, like, find those comfort movies again. Because I don't like new things. I like old things. Says me, who spent most of Sunday cleaning and watching Murder She Wrote. And I did get Werther's originals, so they're somewhere in my house. So that's fun for me anyway, for reading now, I don't know if I can recommend it. I can. Or I can. You know what? I haven't read it yet, but I have read her work and I have listened to her work. Anne Foster of Vulgar History, her book Rebel of the Regency, about Carolina Brunswick. I, it literally arrived today. I haven't even read it. So, like, I can't, I can't quite recommend it to you because I haven't read it yet. But you know what? I'm. I'm gonna. Agatha Christie. Any of it. All of it. Some of it, yeah. And listening. You know what I was listening to a lot to this week actually was Denis by Blondie. Because I was like, oh, this is a fun little song. And it's also really short and it's, it's not too high and not too low. So even though I can't sing it, it's like, oh, that could be a decent karaoke song because it's like small and easy. But yeah, there we go. That's your, that's your recommendation. And enjoy. Oh, my goodness. And I will see you next week where I have. I, I think you're really gonna like next week's one because it's one I actually knew so much about and I'm like, it's actually very murder heavy throughout the whole thing. So if you, if you don't like murders and death, then that's not going to be an episode for you. You're going to want to exit stage left. But with that, I shall bid you good night. Adios. Au revoir, au vuirise, my friends. Bye Bye.
- [68:06]
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- [68:35]
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- [69:01]
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