Srinagarindra

Srinagarindra (ศรีนครินทรา) (born 21 October 1900, Thon Buri – died 18 July 1995, Bangkok) was the Princess Mother of Thailand.



Her given name was Sangwan (สังวาลย์). Her formal name and title were Somdej Phra Srinagarindra Boromarajajonani (สมเด็จพระศรีนครินทราบรมราชชนนี). In Thailand, the Princess Mother was affectionately called Somdej Ya (สมเด็จย่า), "the Royal Grandmother", and by the various hill tribe people, she was called Mae Fah Luang (แม่ฟ้าหลวง), "Royal Mother from the sky", or "The Heavenly Royal Mother".

Early life
Of part Chinese descent, she was born as a commoner to an ethnic Chinese goldsmith and his Thai wife. By the time she was nine years old, both her parents had died. However, before that she was entered into the service of Princess Valaya Alongkorn, who was a daughter of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). Sangwon was first educated at Anongkaram School and later at Satri Withaya, a well known girl's school in Bangkok. She graduated in 1916 from the school of nursing at Siriraj Hospital. Through a Royal scholarship, she went to study in the USA. She first went to the Emerson School in Berkeley, California, where she studied English, before continuing her studies at the Northwest School in Hartford, Connecticut, where she met and fell in love with Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkhla, a son of King Chulalongkorn.

She also attended an all-girl school, Simmons College (Boston, Massachusetts), during the early 1900s. To this day, the royal family remains in touch with the college and regularly visits the school when they are in Massachusetts.

Marriage and family
In 1920, Prince Mahidol and the Princess returned to Bangkok and married. They had three children:


 * Galyani Vadhana (born in 1923, in London, England);


 * Ananda Mahidol (born 1925 in Heidelberg, Germany, became later King, Rama VIII);


 * Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, later became King, Rama IX, and reigns today in Thailand).

The couple again returned to Thailand in 1928. However, after only about one year in Thailand, Prince Mahidol died. He was survived by his consort, who was 29 years old, and the three young children.

In 1935, King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) abdicated, and Prince Ananda Mahidol, then only ten years old, inherited the throne. After the mysterious death of King Ananda Mahidol, Bhumibol Adulyadej became ruler.

Royal duties
The Princess Mother was actively involved with numerous charitable activities, including assisting the Border Patrol Police, visiting disabled soldiers, the needy and congested community dwellers, and initiating volunteer doctor units to help the hilltribe people in the north. She formed the Volunteer Doctors Foundation to support the activities of the Volunteer Doctor Units. She gave donations to help build schools in remote areas, and invited others to help in the project. She also set up the Princess Mother's Fund to help support various other charities.

In her later years, Srinagarindra was strongly involved with projects to aid the hilltribe people in northern Thailand, especially around Doi Tung, Mae Fa Luang district, Chiang Rai Province.

In the middle of 1991, she apparently fell in her bedroom, after which her health never returned to normal. In November 1993, December 1994 and again in June 1995 she was admitted to the Siriraj Hospital for treatment. She died on 18 July 1995, at the age of 94.

Memorial
Her cremation ceremony, on March 10 1996, was one of the biggest events Thailand has witnessed in modern times, attended by thousands of people and watched on television nationwide. Her ashes were afterwards enshrined in the Wat Ratchabophit temple in Bangkok. Srinagarindra was beloved and highly respected in Thailand as a person of integrity and good morals. In 1993, in remembrance of her, the king established The Princess Mother Memorial Park in Bangkok, which consists of gardens and a reproduction of her childhood home.