On Monday, December 5, 1927, a young baby boy was born at Cambridge Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. The parents were a young Thai couple known in the US as Mr and Mrs Songkla Mahidol, a medical student and a nursing student respectively.
But in Siam, Mr Mahidol was known as Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, Prince of Songkla, and half-brother to King Prajadhipok, Rama VII. His wife was Mom Sangwan, a commoner who had won a nursing scholarship from Queen Savang Vadhana, the Queen Grandmother. The baby had two older siblings, Princess Galyani Vadhana, who was born in London, and Prince Ananda Mahidol, who was born in Germany.
The first home of Baby Songkla – the name on his American birth certificate – was a six-room apartment in Brookline, on the first floor of 63 Longwood Avenue, not far from Harvard University where his father, the prince, was studying medicine after having previously earned a certificate in public health.
By July the following year, the Mahidol family were ready to leave Boston, travelling home via London and Lausanne where the frail prince stayed a while to recuperate. It wasn’t until the end of 1928 that the family arrived in Bangkok. Queen Savang Vadhana, the Queen Grandmother, had arranged that Srapathum Palace be setup as their family home.