The King had previously met Mom Rachawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara, daughter of the Thai ambassador to London, Prince Nakkhatra Mangala Kitiyakara, but romance did not develop until the King was involved in a serious car accident which resulted in the loss of his right eye. The King's convalescence in Lausanne was made all the more bearable with the constant presence of MR Sirikit, whose parents had now enrolled her at a boarding school in Lausanne.