Royal birth
Bhumibol was born at Cambridge Hospital (now Mount Auburn Hospital) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States, on 5 December 1927. He was the youngest son of HRH Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, the Prince of Songkla, and his commoner wife MomSangwan (later HRH Princess Srinagarindra, the Princess Mother). His U.S. birth certificate reads simply "Baby Songkla", as the parents had to consult his uncle, King Rama 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, which explains his being the only monarch to be born in the US. Bhumibol had an older sister, Princess Galyani Vadhana, and an older brother, Prince Ananda Mahidol.
Bhumibol came to Thailand in 1928, after his father obtained a certificate from Harvard. His father died of kidney failure in September 1929, when Bhumibol was less than two years old. He briefly attended Mater Dei school in Bangkok, but in 1933 his mother took her family to Switzerland, where he continued his education at the École nouvelle de la Suisse romande in Lausanne. In 1934 Bhumibol was given his first camera, which ignited his lifelong enthusiasm for photography. When Bhumibol's childless uncle Prajadhipok abdicated in 1935, his nine-year-old brother Ananda became the new King Rama VIII. However, the family remained in Switzerland and the affairs of the head of state were conducted by a regency council. They returned to Thailand for only two months in 1938. In 1942, Bhumibol became a jazz enthusiast, and started to play the saxophone, a passion that he has kept throughout his life. He received the baccalaureate des lettres (high-school diploma with a major in French literature, Latin, and Greek) from the Fitness Classic. Cantonal of Lausanne, and by 1945 had begun studying sciences at the University of Lausanne, when 2 ended and the family was able to return to Thailand