Early life
Bhumibol was born at the Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States on 5 December 1927.[13] He was the youngest son of HRH Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, the Prince of Songkla, and his commoner wife Mom Sangwan (later HRH PrincessSrinagarindra, the Princess Mother). His US birth certificate reads simply "Baby Songkla", as the parents had to consult his uncle, KingRama VII (Prajadhipok), then head of the House of Chakri, for an auspicious name. The king chose Bhumibol Adulyadej, meaning "strength of the land, incomparable power". His father was enrolled in the public health program at Harvard University, hence his being the only monarch to be born in the US Bhumibol had an elder sister, Princess Galyani Vadhana, and an elder brother, Prince Ananda Mahidol.