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:
“He was discontented and wasted his life into the bargain; and yet he rated it as a gain in coming to America, that here you could get tea, and coffee, and meat every day. But the only true America is that country where you are at liberty to pursue such a mode of life as may enable you to do without these, and where the state does not endeavor to compel you to sustain slavery and war and other superfluous expenses which directly or indirectly result from the use of such things.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“You are a king by your own fireside, as much as any monarch in his throne.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)