Hw was born in Cambridge,Massachusetts,on 5 December 1927,while his father was studying at Harvard.His farther died when he was less than two years old,and when his childless uncle abdicate in 1935,his nine-year-old brother Ananda became King of Thailand.The family lived in Switzerland untill the end of the Second World War.On 9 June 1946,his brother King Ananda died of a gunshot wound under mysterious circumstances,making the 18 year-old Bhumibol King of Thailand,thoung he was only crowned on 5 May 1950,a week after marrying Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara,daughter of the Thai ambassador to France.