Katya & The Prince of Siam

The promise of Chakrabongse’s youth, his devotion to duty and great mental abilities were fully and increasingly recognised, while Katya’s wonderfully quick and lively personality, the full part she played both in her home and the wider social sphere, had earned her general regard. Both the King and one of her husband’s half-brothers, Prince Mahidol, had great affection for her, while Queen Saowabha’s heart she had won from the first, not least because she so admirably accepted the Queen’s claims upon her son. In addition, the interest she took in every detail of the running of Paruskavan, the personal work she put into replanning some of the gardens, her swift acquisition of their difficult language, knowledge of their cuisine, and above all her care for their health and welfare, had endeared her to all her staff, while her personal maid Cham had become her deeply attached and devoted shadow.

Formal rites and religious ceremonies played an almost daily part in their life, and a typical entry in Chakrabongse’s diary read: ‘Today, apart from going to the office, I went to three funerals – all military people.’ Besides these melancholy events, there were birthdays, commemorative services of many kinds – and plays – these last, although they would seem to offer only entertainment, sometimes required a high degree both of stamina and sheer endurance. Particularly was this the case when they were produced, not at a theatre, but at the Palace, where they were frequently written and performed by the King himself, so that attendance was obligatory. For instance, Chakrabongse noted in his diary: ‘Tonight there’s another play. One of the King’s new ones from an Indian story – started at twelve and finished at four a.m.’ And the next night: ‘Play at the Palace again which went on for ages!’

 

 

The house at Hua Hin c. 1917.

 

On the other hand, there was the cooling refreshment always to be found at Hua Hin, while back in town new entertainments were springing up. There might be spur-of-the-moment visits to the still novel cinema where films shown included such enticing titles such as ‘Million Dollar Mystery’, ‘The Devils Eye’, ‘Madame Sans-Gene’, and the ‘Red Circle’, a series in fourteen episodes. Occasionally, there was the circus, where alas one year ‘the best performing bear died from sunstroke’. Among other annual events, the Dusit Park Fair was always well attended as royalty and nobility ran stalls or charged for amusement. One year Katya was an exhibitor when she was congratulated on her ‘charming pale blue stall, featuring a fountain and a fishing-pond which produced many agreeable surprises for fortunate anglers.’

 

 

Katya and Chula on the rocks at Hua Hin.

 

After their return from Europe, Katya developed a passion for racing at the fashionable Royal Bangkok Sports Club, owning several racehorses herself. Over the years she owned, ‘Sally’, ‘Nancy’, ‘Why Not’, ‘Flirt’ and ‘Aminda’, and according to the Bangkok Times, ‘Sally’ and ‘Aminda’, each in their turn, delighted their proud owner by coming first.

An interest which engaged Chakrabongse’s serious attention was aviation, for he had long recognised the future importance of the aeroplane for civil and military purposes. Therefore when a French pilot gave a flying demonstration in Bangkok, Chakrabongse and one of his brothers – uniformed, booted and spurred – were each taken up for a flight. As a result, Chakrabongse was even more convinced of the aeroplane’s strategic value and, subsequently, despatched four of his young officers to France to be trained as pilots.

 

 

The four Thai airmen sent to France by Prince Chakrabongse, seated with their fellow officers.

 

Although he worked at the War Office from ten to five, Chakrabongse often rose at five a.m. to watch the training of military cadets. As Heir Apparent he also had to attend weekly cabinet meetings and yet, like many highly organised people, he had the ability to stretch time to include social and family duties and pleasures, as well. His son recounts in one of his books: ‘However busy my parents were, if they were alone in the house, I could see them anytime, and they were invariably pleased to see me … Even when fully occupied in his library, my father would be ready to put down his work to translate for me some passages in an English children’s book.’

Looking at his photographs, one is not surprised that his parents were ‘invariably pleased’ to see him, for he was a most appealing child. Surrounded as he was by care and affection, not only from his father and mother, but his grandmother and his Nurse Chom, whom he loved very dearly, he took his place within the frame of a charming picture of a happy family. A picture often held up in Bangkok, in those last years before the First World War, as representing a rare and ideal marriage.