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| Prince Father of Thailand | |||||||||
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| Born | (1892-01-01)1 January 1892 Bangkok,Siam | ||||||||
| Died | 24 September 1929(1929-09-24) (aged 37) Bangkok, Siam | ||||||||
| Burial | 16 March 1930 Sanam Luang, Bangkok | ||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||
| Issue Detail |
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| House | Mahidol (Chakri dynasty) | ||||||||
| Father | Chulalongkorn (Rama V) | ||||||||
| Mother | Savang Vadhana | ||||||||
| Religion | Theravada Buddhism | ||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||
| Military career | |||||||||
| Allegiance | Kingdom of Siam | ||||||||
| Branch | |||||||||
| Years of service | 1908–1914 | ||||||||
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Styles of
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| Reference style | His Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
Mahitala Dhibesra Adulyadej Vikrom, the Prince Father[1] (Thai:สมเด็จพระมหิตลาธิเบศร อดุลยเดชวิกรม พระบรมราชชนกRTGS: Somdet Phra Mahitalathibet Adunyadetwikrom Phra Borommaratchachanok, 1 January 1892 – 24 September 1929), formerlyPrince Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince ofSongkhla (Thai:สมเด็จเจ้าฟ้ามหิดลอดุลยเดช กรมหลวงสงขลานครินทร์) orMahidol Songkla, was the father of KingAnanda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and KingBhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) ofThailand, and the paternal grandfather of KingVajiralongkorn (Rama X). He was also regarded as the father of modern medicine and public health in Thailand. He also founded the House of Mahidol or the presentRoyal Family of Thailand.[2] His two sons reigned for more than eight decades, longer than theIbn Saud siblings ofSaudi Arabia, and theNahyan siblings ofAbu Dhabi.
Prince Mahidol was the 69th child of KingChulalongkorn and the 7th of QueenSavang Vadhana. His mother also adopted four other royal princes whose commoner mother (Chao Chom Manda) had died; among them was Prince Rangsit Prayulsak, laterPrince of Chainat, who became a very close friend of Prince Mahidol during his childhood. Later in their lives, Prince Rangsit would play a pivotal role in Mahidol's career, and would later be appointed regent to one of Mahidol's sons,Bhumibol.
Like the other sons of King Chulalongkorn, Prince Mahidol started his education at the Royal School within the Grand Palace. He received the title of Prince ofSongkla at age 13.
He was sent to London in 1905, and after spending a year and a half inHarrow School, he moved to Germany to join the Royal Prussian Military Preparatory College atPotsdam according to the wish of his father, then continued his military education at the Imperial Military Academy atGroß–Lichterfelde in Berlin. Following the wish of his half-brother, KingVajiravudh, he then entered theImperial German Naval Academy atFlensburg-Mürwik. While there, he won a competition insubmarine design. He was commissioned Lieutenant in both the Imperial German Navy and the Royal Thai Navy in 1912.
The start of World War I compelled the Prince to come back to Thailand in 1914; he was assigned to a teaching post at the Royal Naval Academy. He continued his interest in smaller vessels, includingsubmarines andtorpedo boats; this later led to conflict at a meeting, where he was overruled by senior naval officers, most of whom were British graduates and preferred larger vessels. The Prince, feeling that his expertise would never be used, resigned his post nine months after joining the Navy.
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His half-brother and old friend PrinceRangsit then came into play. He was at that time Chief of theRoyal Medical College. Medical and public health education at that time lagged behind the Western standard. TheMedical College and its hospital,Siriraj, were small, crowded, underfunded, understaffed and ill-equipped.Prince Rangsit, himself a lesser-class prince (as his mother was a commoner), thought that having someone of high prestige like Prince Mahidol (who was a first-class celestial prince being born to a royal mother who was also a daughter of a king) supporting the movement to improve medical practice and public health in Thailand would generate more interest and probably more funding. He strategically invited Prince Mahidol to a boat trip along the Bangkok Yai and Bangkok Noi canals. His office,Siriraj Hospital, was on the route, and this was where he invited his half-brother to stop and have a look around. Having seen Mahidol's reaction to the poor state of the hospital, Prince Rangsit asked him if he wanted to help; Mahidol's answer at that time was, however, not very positive as he was concerned that he knew nothing about medicine himself. However, a few days elapsed and he agreed to help. He also decided he would study in related fields himself.
Thus the Prince went toEdinburgh, Scotland to studypublic health atUniversity of Edinburgh and then toCambridge, Massachusetts to study atHarvard Medical School.[3] He also asked Prince Rangsit to select four students to be sent to the U.S.: two medical students who would be funded by Mahidol himself and two nursing students who would be funded by his mother, QueenSavang Vadhana. It was said that the Prince went to the train station to greet the students himself. This was when an unintended sequel of Prince Rangsit's scheme occurred: one of the nursing students who arrived was the 18-year-old MissSangwal Talabhat, future wife of Prince Mahidol and mother of two future kings of Thailand. Mahidol diligently looked after his students, and thus became close to Miss Talabhat, who then accompanied him back to Thailand three years later to attend the funeral of QueenSaovabha. While there, they married under the royal blessing of his half-brother KingVajiravudh at Sapathum Palace before returning to Harvard. He received his Certificate in Public Health the following year (1921).
After his study, he went back toEdinburgh for a break but was also asked to represent the Thai government in liaising with theRockefeller Foundation, which was offering monetary and technical help to improve Thailand's medical and public health education. His first child, PrincessGalyani Vadhana, was born in London in 1923. He returned to Thailand the same year to take the position of Director-General of the University Department in the Ministry of Education. Apart from his administrative duties, he also taught pre-clinical medical students at the Royal Medical College.
In 1925 he went toHeidelberg, Germany to have his kidneys treated before going back to his alma materHarvard University, this time to study medicine. It was in Heidelberg where his first son PrinceAnanda Mahidol was born the same year. His youngest son PrinceBhumibol was born inMassachusetts in 1927; six months later he received his M.D. cum laude.[4] He returned to Thailand in December 1928.
One of the first things he did when he returned was to set up scholarships for students in the fields of medicine, nursing, and public health. He was planning to return to Siriraj Hospital for an internship. However, his princely status then became a problem as it was felt that he was too prestigious to be allowed an internship. Undeterred, Mahidol chose another hospital in a more egalitarian environment – the missionary-run McCormick Hospital inChiang Mai. He worked there, day and night, as a resident doctor. His patients fondly called him "Mho Chao Fa" ('Doctor Prince').
Before long, complications with his kidney problems resurfaced. Three weeks after he started working, he visitedBangkok to attend the funeral of his uncle, and was never able to return to Chiang Mai. It appeared that he also had liver abscess, and his health continually deteriorated. Prince Mahidol died on 24 September 1929 at Sapathum Palace.
He was posthumously given the title of the Prince Father (Somdej Phra Mahittalathibet Adulyadejvikrom Phra Borommarajachanok – สมเด็จพระมหิตลาธิเบศ อดุลยเดชวิกรม พระบรมราชชนก) with a special royal rank equivalent tofront palaces.
Prince Mahidol of Songkla taught atChulalongkorn University. Apart from being an instructor and administrator at the university, he was also of one of its great benefactors. He donated a large amount of his own fortune to set up scholarships which enabled university lecturers in science and medicine to further their studies. He negotiated withRockefeller Foundation in helping the university improve from its poor academic foundation.[5]
His legacies remain to this day. The students sent abroad under his scholarships became key players in modern medicine of Thailand: many were regarded as great teachers, and some helped establish new medical schools and universities. The Royal Medical School later became theFaculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Chulalongkorn University. It was key source of faculty of Medical University when it was founded in 1943. In 1969 the Medical University was granted the Prince's name by royal decree and becameMahidol University. The "Prince of Songkla"title became the name ofPrince of Songkla University in 1967.
In commemoration of the centenary of the Prince's birth, thePrince Mahidol Award was created in 1992. This is an international award in the fields of medicine, public health, and social services. The anniversary of his passing is observed asMahidol Day.
The following places are named after him:
| Name | Birth | Death | Marriage | Their children | |
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| Date | Spouse | ||||
| Galyani Vadhana, Princess of Naradhiwas | 6 May 1923 | 2 January 2008 (aged 84) | 11 July 1944 Divorced 1950 | Aram Rattanakul Serireongrit | Dhasanawalaya Ratanakul Serireongrit |
| 24 September 1969 | Prince Varananda Dhavaj | None | |||
| Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) | 20 September 1925 | 9 June 1946 (aged 20) | None | None | |
| Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) | 5 December 1927 | 13 October 2016 (aged 88) | 28 April 1950 | Sirikit Kitiyakara | Princess Ubolratana |
| Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) | |||||
| Sirindhorn, Princess Royal | |||||
| Chulabhorn, Princess Srisavangavadhana | |||||
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The generations are numbered from the establishment of theChakri dynasty from 1782 | ||||||||||
| Rama I |
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| Rama IV |
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| Rama VI |
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| Rama VIII |
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| Rama IX |
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| Rama X |
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(  )*Became king**Appointed Viceroy ***Appointed Deputy Viceroy ( )^Appointed Crown PrinceX was degraded from royalty | ||||||||||
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