Katya & The Prince of Siam

Since the Japanese occupation of Thailand and Thailand’s declaration of War on Britain and the United States, Chula and Bira were, strictly speaking, classed as enemy aliens. However, Chula had been assured that neither of them would be subject to restrictions on that score and that he was to retain his GCVO. Gratifying though this undoubtedly was, Chula, still frustrated at being unable to serve his own country, began to look around to find some way in which to ‘bear a share in the defence of England, the country of our refuge and our home’, and decided to apply for himself and Bira to become privates in the Home Guard. Their first application in December 1941 was turned down, but Chula persisted, and in February 1942 both were accepted. The Home Guard was an auxiliary force, a million strong in 1940, and provided a welcome chance of service to veterans of the First World War and younger men in reserved occupations such as farming.

The two Princes participated fully in the strenuous training of the Rock Platoon, which included night sentry duty and coast patrols, and as there were rumours of German landings on the Cornish coast, they slept with full equipment and a rifle beneath their beds. Their duties were most loyally carried out, and Chula, who had from quite a tender age worn immaculately tailored uniforms of no lower rank than second-lieutenant in King Chulalongkorn’s Own Bodyguard, the First Cavalry Regiment of the Guards, and Fifth Cavalry Regiment of Queen Saowabha, now wore only the rough dust-coloured khaki of an English private soldier.

 

Prince Bira and Chula in their Home Guard uniforms c. 1943.

 

Later in 1942, Chula moved on to join the Army Cadet Force, greatly expanded since the war – there were three battalions in Cornwall alone – with the rank of Second-Lieutenant and, after six months, was promoted Lieutenant, retaining his operational role in the Home Guard in case of emergency. Though enthusiastic about this new departure, he records rather ruefully that when required to carry a two-inch mortar up a hill, he could only walk. ‘Double, double’, cried a subaltern, years younger than himself, ‘You’ll have to assume I’m doubling’, the exhausted Prince replied.

There was dismay at Lynham when, in 1944, three months notice to leave was given them by the landlord, as they had all come to love Cornwall. In addition, Chula was reluctant to leave his Cadet Battalion, while Lisba, who had taken up work for St John’s Ambulance Brigade as war-work, found it of such absorbing interest that by 1964, in recognition of her twenty-five years of devoted service, she was to be created a Dame of the Order. Therefore, instead of planning a return to London, they searched for a property not to rent but to buy.

Their final choice fell on Tredethy near Bodmin, which became their lifelong home. Tredethy was a high-standing awkward-looking house, in a magnificent setting, facing south over a wide prospect of rolling wooded countryside. It was ill-designed with large draughty rooms, lofty ceilings, old-fashioned kitchen quarters, no mains electricity or water, and completely isolated except for a neighbouring farm. Also included in the property were two or three cottages, outbuildings and old stabling built around a courtyard. It was said to be haunted, and in time to come more than one nervous guest would describe the apparition of a grey lady on the stairs; what her story was and why her spirit was uneasy, no-one knew, though it was suggested that if she were grey, she might be grey with cold, for in common with so many English country houses, Tredethy was never really warm. Oddly enough, Chula, born and brought up in a tropical climate, never felt the cold and was inclined to look down on those who did.

Tredethy was however warmed by the great hospitality of its owners. They were always looking for and finding occasion for parties and amusement for their many friends, and Lisba was adept at never being at a loss to set another place or discover room for yet another guest in the large rambling house. There were delightful musical evenings when first-rate quartets came to play. There were dances, lavish Christmas parties, country walks and swimming.