Katya & The Prince of Siam

In 1916, instead of the customary regional exercises, Chakrabongse organised Grand Manoeuvres lasting four days, in which 20,000 to 30,000 troops participated. Under canvas himself and fulfilling the role of Chief Umpire, he was able to put into practice much that he had learned from his intensive study of the European War; and to make use of machine-guns, field-telephones and seven aeroplanes! Great enthusiasm was engendered by the scale and scope of these exercises. Even Queen Saowabha temporarily forsook her nocturnal routine and, travelling by boat, landed at a series of designated places, where she was carried on a chair by her sailors to pavilions especially constructed for her reception. From these she had an excellent view of the proceedings and gratifying glimpses of four of her sons – the King, Chakrabongse, and two younger sons, respectively a battalion commander and a staff officer.

Her grandson accompanied her on these expeditions and wrote: ‘I shall never forget the sign of my father’s slight figure sitting on his white horse (more than likely this was the Russian veteran, Ramushka), when at the flash of his sword and word of command, twenty thousand men presented arms as one man.’

On 11th January 1917, The Siam Observer

, notable for its remarkably full coverage of news from Russia, carried a report of the murder of Rasputin by Prince Yussoupoff, Grand Duke Dmitri and Captain Sukhotin on 29th December 1916, and commented on the monk’s ‘sinister and magnetic influence especially on the weaker sex’, a veiled reference to the unhealthy control he had exercised over the Russian Empress.

In February, Chakrabongse records in his diary that he went to see the newly-arrived Russian Ambassador, Loris Malikov: ‘He seems quite a nice chap, direct and to the point. He told me what had gone on in Petrograd before he came to Siam. He’s certain there’s going to be trouble. It seems the root cause was the meddling of the Empress and her monk, Rasputin. She listened only to him and forced the Emperor to do what he said. Everyone was and is dissatisfied.’ The ‘trouble’, of course, was the imminence of revolution, and events now moved rapidly and inexorably toward the downfall of Imperial Russia with the abdication of the Emperor on 14th March at Pskov, and the establishment of the first Provisional Government headed by Prince Lvov, with Kerensky as Minister of Justice.

Naturally long before this, any hope of Chakrabongse and Katya’s journey to St Petersburg had been abandoned. Perhaps the gloom and heartbreak they felt may have lightened for an instant, when they learned that poor Chulasewok, now Chakrabongse’s ADC, balked of his first trip to Europe for which he had assembled a splendid wardrobe, had had himself, as some compensation for his disappointment, photographed in a number of striking poses, in costumes varying from an elegant lounge suit to white tie and tails, and full dress uniform!

In April Chakrabongse records in his diary that ‘we went to see Loris Malikov again, and remembering the importance of Easter to Russians, took him an Easter egg.’ He then continued: ‘This Ambassador is very active and wants to make a name for himself’. (Not surprising when it is recalled that Malikov was the grandson of the General and powerful Minister who, among his many distinctions and achievements, was particularly responsible for persuading Alexander II to agree to a form of constitutional government, and in February 1881, had laid the draft before him. But only nine days later, this plan, which might have had incalculable consequences for the good of Russia, came to naught with the assassination of the Emperor, whose successor Alexander III preferred to return to the principles of autocratic power.)

Chakrabongse further noted: ‘Malikov wants Siam to join the Allies’. And, as Chakrabongse heartily endorsed this opinion, he went to discuss it with one of his Uncles, Prince Svasti, who was Foreign Minister, only to find to his disappointment that the Prince still wished to sit on the fence. Siam’s equivocal standing was finally resolved when America, after circularising all remaining neutral states, declared war on Germany and Austria in April 1917. This powerful addition to the Allied cause enabled Rama VI to sweep away remaining opposition, and Siam entered the war in July that same year. This led Robert Martignan to write in his book La Monarchie Absolue Siamoise that: ‘Chakrabongse, Prince of Bisnulok, principal and prime mover of the alliance, showed clairvoyant good sense’.