Katya & The Prince of Siam

‘Everyone tried to plead my case, right up to the Queen Mother and the King. However, the only thing that would satisfy Katya would be if I were to break with Chavalit completely and were never to see her again. If I were to do this, I feel it would be unfair to Chavalit and also it would mean I would never be able to hold my head high again. I would have to carry my wife constantly on my back. If I give in to her on this point I would have to give in to her forever… Actually, divorce will cause Katya a lot more suffering than me and I’ve told her this repeatedly and advised her long and hard on this matter. Other people have also tried to influence her but to no avail. She just wants to get the better of me in this and there is no other solution. The whole discussion has been raging for six months, and I haven’t had a moment’s peace, arguing all the time. Those who are aware of the situation, feel it is intolerable and shouldn’t continue.

‘Katya has appointed Mr Wright to be her lawyer and, on my side, Sadet (Prince Svasti) is organising things for me. I have given her 40,000 baht as a first payment and thereafter will give her £1,200 per annum. She is going to leave the country.’

XI

Death of a Queen and a Prince

 

 

Queen Saowabha’s urn in the Dusit Throne Hall.

 

So in melancholy fashion ended this romantic love, strong enough to have brought two such disparate people together, but perhaps too strong, too temperamental, to evolve into the loving friendship a long happy marriage requires. From Chakrabongse’s diary it can be seen that his first thought was now for Chavalit and that, drained by months of dissension, emotional exhaustion had set in leaving him numb and devoid of any feeling except a yearning for peace – peace and quiet at almost any price.

For 13 years, in a polygamous society, Chakrabongse and Katya’s marriage had presented a picture of a couple secure in their happiness and contented with one another. The news of their divorce broke like a thunderclap. All the more because 12 years earlier they had successfully weathered the initial royal displeasure at the union of the Heir Presumptive with a foreigner. Even his love affair with Chavalit, by no means known to everyone, had not been regarded as a serious threat to so long-standing and well-tried a relationship.

At Paruskavan, once Katya had gone she was sadly missed because of the active interest she had taken in the house, the garden, the medical problems of everyone, from a servant to her son, and the welfare of the birds and animals in her little zoo.

Chula, fortunately, still had his beloved nurse Chom, his home and a father who did all he could to make up for the absence of his mother. Although he went to school every day, he continued to spend weekends with his grandmother, now growing ever more frail as her sedentary life began to tell on her. In fact, his attendance at school did not inconvenience the autocratic old Queen in the least as, if she suddenly wished to see him, she thought nothing of dispatching her car to whisk him from his classroom to her palace. In addition, she also sent him in a hot luncheon daily from her own kitchens, which could have hardly have made him popular with his fellow pupils.